Burglary Tales, Unmistaken Identities and Gas Price Rage

Farmington police said they arrested three men who were spotted by a passer-by burglarizing a home on Scott Swamp Road. Two of the men had been arrested and released the day before, police said, after a neighbor reported seeing them burglarizing a house about 2.5 miles away, on Junior Road. Robert Stewart, 45, of New Britain; George Sawyer, 40, of Bristol; and Brian Stewart, 39, of Burlington; were arrested on two counts of third-degree burglary, conspiracy to commit third-degree burglary and sixth-degree larceny.

West Hartford police arrested two men with the same name in unrelated incidents within one hour of each other. Giovanni Torres, 20, of 117 Harbison St., Hartford, was arrested April 19 on charges of felony assault, disorderly conduct and reckless endangerment. In a traffic stop 42 minutes later, Giovanni Torres, 36, of 45 Rowe Ave., Hartford, was arrested on charges of driving under the influence. “Same name, same date, different people,” West Hartford Lt. David Dubiel said. “Quite an anomaly.”

An alert West Hartford man carrying a licensed 9 mm handgun foiled a daylight burglary and helped catch the suspect, police said. The unidentified man saw a stranger look into his parked car and then walk into a neighbor’s backyard, police said. The man confronted the suspect and told him to stop while other neighbors, seeing the confrontation, called police. Police officers who arrived to investigate a report of an argument between two men, one of them armed, handcuffed both men, then determined that the man carrying the handgun had “interrupted a crime being committed,” according to the police report. The handgun owner was released and the suspect, Darren E. Bellamy, 29, whom police described as homeless, was arrested on charges of attempted burglary, larceny and trespassing.

About 25 uniformed police officers came swarming into Collinsville last week without lights, sirens or even cars. They were all on bicycles, part of a training ride for the International Police Mountain Bike Association. The officers ate lunch at LaSalle’s Market, turned around and rode back to Hartford.

Fairfield police said a woman upset about gasoline prices grabbed some energy drinks at a Mobil station and left without paying for them, saying that Mobil had stolen from her and she was going to steal from Mobil. The woman had prepaid $20 for gas and complained to an employee about how little she was able to pump for that amount, police said. Hilary Watt, 28, of Westport later turned the energy drinks over to police and the store manager decided not to press charges, police said.

Two Naugatuck men suspected of stealing an ATM from a grocery store were arrested after their landlady refused to believe it was an air conditioner they were dragging up to their second-floor apartment on a hand cart at 2 a.m., police said. The landlady, who noticed the letters ATM on the machine, called police. David Michel, 39, and Thomas Michel, 44, were arrested on charges of first-degree burglary, conspiracy to commit first-degree burglary, second-degree larceny, conspiracy to commit second-degree larceny, second-degree criminal trover, conspiracy to commit second-degree trover and interfering with an officer. A suspected accomplice, Kimberly Merced, faces the same charges.