Public Safety Report: Series of car break-ins at Charlesbank Estates

Police are investigating a series of car break-ins that took place in the Charlesbank Estates apartment complex off of South Street.

On Jan. 10 at 8:35 a.m., police responded to a unit within the apartment complex where the reporting party’s vehicle had been broken into and rummaged through. Nothing was missing from the vehicle, but the door was left unlocked. 

At 11:38 a.m. the same day, police responded to the complex for another break-in. A flashlight with a $110 value was stolen from the reporting party’s vehicle, which had been rummaged through. 

A third break-in was reported at 12:15 p.m. Sunglasses were missing from the vehicle and items inside the vehicle were out of place. Investigation into these break-ins is ongoing. There are currently no suspects.

A summary of police and fire activity from Jan. 9 to Jan. 12 is as follows:

On Jan. 9 at 11:15 a.m., firefighters responded to an apartment on Lexington Street. When they arrived, the crew found a smouldering ceiling fan that had dropped from the ceiling and set a bathmat on fire. The crew used a fire extinguisher on the bathmat and the fan, then checked the surrounding area for any possible extension of the fire. The area was found to be safe.

On Jan. 9 at 7:39 p.m., police responded to a house on Ellison Park where residents had arrived home to find an unknown man sleeping on their couch. The man was arrested for burglary, attempted burglary and vandalization of property due to his activities inside the home.

On Jan. 9 at 8:36 p.m., police responded to a residence on Main Street where the reporting party had found an unknown drunk male asleep on the porch. The male was transported to a local area hospital for assessment.

On Jan. 10 at 12:32 p.m., police were called to the Market Basket at 110 Market Place Drive. A counterfeit $100 bill had been used to pay for a purchase by a customer who didn’t know it was counterfeit. The incident is under investigation.

On Jan. 10 at 3:57 p.m., police responded to Middlesex Circle where a package of manga books valued at $45 was stolen. There are no suspects at this time.

 On Jan. 11 at 1:50 p.m., police responded to a residence on Mallard Way where a scooter was stolen from a shed in the backyard. The backyard was accessed through a hole the perpetrator cut through the fence around the yard. The incident is still under investigation.

On Jan. 12 at 11:33 a.m., police responded to a residence on Moody Street where the reporting party had had one of their checks washed. Check washing is a type of fraud where the scammer removes details from a check so that it can be made out to someone different, usually at a higher dollar amount. The washed check was cashed for $17,000. The incident is currently under investigation.

All information was obtained from spokespeople with the Waltham Police and Fire departments, the publicly available police blotter, and police reports available at Waltham District Court.