Police on July 11 arrested an 18-year-old New Canaan man in a bizarre incident involving the theft of two vehicles.
At about 11:48 p.m. on July 10, an officer on patrol saw an unoccupied Plymouth minivan parked near the Apple Cart food court in Mead Park, according to a police report.
A computer check of the vehicle showed that it had been stolen earlier in the day out of Kent, the report said.
While investigating the stolen minivan, another vehicle with two occupants entered Mead Park and approached the Plymouth, it said. On seeing police, the driver made a quick U-turn and exited the park, the report said.
Police stopped the car and spoke to its driver and passenger, the New Canaan teen, it said.
Though police developed no information at the time connecting the teen to the stolen minivan, at about 3:51 a.m. on July 11, officers were dispatched to Heritage Hill Road on a report of a single-car crash. There, police found that an unoccupied and heavily damaged BMW and struck a tree off of the road, the report said.
Police contacted the registered owners of the BMW, who live in Park Street, and found that they weren’t involved in the crash, it said. However, police determined that someone had entered their home through an unlocked door and removed the car key for the BMW and stolen it, later crashing on Heritage Hill Road, the report said.
Investigators then located the teen, a Thayer Pond Road resident, “stumbling and walking barefoot on Heritage Hill Road,” the report said.
Police questioned the teen and he admitted to having the key to the stolen minivan in his pocket, and later told booking officers that he had entered the Park Street residence, taken the BMW key from inside and then took and crashed the car, the report said.
He was charged with second-degree burglary, second-degree larceny, third-degree larceny, evading responsibility and failure to drive right.
Police released the teen on $10,000 bond and scheduled him to appear Aug. 2 in state Superior Court.