Chopper parts swiped
Police are investigating the theft of nearly $60,000 in helicopter parts from a local manufacturer, and they may have a suspect.
The owner of the metal factory on Adams Street called police on Tuesday, April 15 to report breaking and entering.
Police said the owner found several missing items when he opened the factory at 8:45 a.m., including 200 pounds of yellow brass and 114 aluminum castings worth $510 each.
The parts were manufactured to be used in building helicopter rotors, according to the owner.
He told police that he suspected a disgruntled former employee who he said quit last year after the owner allegedly found him drinking and smoking marijuana on the job.
The owner suspected that the former employee had a “vendetta” against him since the man was denied an unemployment claim based on the owner’s record of the employee’s dismissal, police said.
Whoever stole the parts broke in through a rear window, operated the company forklift, and only took specific parts from the factory, according to police.
Officers observed tire tracks leading from the garage door where they believe the loot was loaded into a vehicle, and a trash truck operator that was at the scene at 4:45 a.m. told police he saw a white Ford pickup truck at the factory.
Police said the investigation is still underway.
Apartment dispute
A woman renting a room from a condo owner told police she was “fearful for her life” after her landlord allegedly caused a commotion and told her to leave the apartment.
Police responded to a call from the tenant on Tuesday, April 13 and found the tenant outside the Washington Street building.
The tenant told police that she was cooking in the kitchen around 8 p.m. when the condo owner came in and told the tenant she wanted her out of the apartment.
The tenant told police she tried to reason with the condo owner, but the owner became more irate, according to the report.
The tenant left the building and called a friend, she told police, but upon returning she found her clothes and personal belongings scattered about the floor. Food from the refrigerator was also found to be on the floor in the doorway to her room and her laptop computer was in the trash can, undamaged.
The tenant told police she moved in on April 1, but that the condo owner had been acting in an “odd and threatening manner” to her since that time. She also showed police a receipt for the rent signed by the condo owner.
The condo owner did not answer knocks at the door by police officers who announced themselves, so the tenant allowed police to enter the premises, where they found the owner.
Police asked the woman if the accusations by the tenant were true, and the woman responded, “It just isn’t working out,” according to police. She told officers that the belongings were thrown around by herself and the tenant, police said.
The landlord complained that the tenant told her that she was a ballerina-in-training during the interview for the room, but that the owner found that to be untrue after the fact. She said this misrepresentation “angered her greatly,” according to police.
Police subdued both parties who reached an agreement that the tenant will move out at the end of the month.
But after officers left the area, they were called back within minutes.
The tenant said that the owner had bolted the door with a lock to which the tenant did not have a key.
Police tried to enter using her keys to no avail, and the condo owner told police through her door that she could not open it from the inside.
Police used an outdoor fire escape to reach the third floor apartment, where they entered and easily opened the door, which they said was only slightly stuck and not unopenable as the owner had said.
The tenant declined to file a harassment complaint and the owner was advised by police to not lock her out again.