Police Blotter
By Joyce Farrell
November 20 – Fraud
A Pelham police officer responded to a Fifth Avenue business’s call to report a fraud. The complainant stated that she had mailed a check made out to one person for $750.00, and it was altered to the name of another person for the amount of $1,999.00. The complainant does not know where the check was cashed, but the bank is aware of the situation. If a suspect can be identified, she would be willing to press charges.
November 17 – Suspended Driving License
While on patrol, a Pelham police officer observed a motor vehicle make a U-turn while traveling northbound on Fifth Avenue. Since unobstructed No U-turn signs are posted on both sides of Fifth Avenue, the officer performed a traffic stop. The officer discovered that the vehicle’s registration was valid, but the driver’s license was suspended because of a lapse in insurance. The driver was arrested and placed in handcuffs. The car was then parked in a legal spot, and the driver was transported without incident to police headquarters. After the booking was completed, the driver was given a desk appearance ticket with a return date of November 21 and was also given two UTTs (Uniform Traffic Tickets), one for the illegal U-turn and the other for the unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle. The driver signed a property release form, and her husband responded to police headquarters to retrieve the key for the car his wife had been driving.
November 15 – Vehicle and Traffic Complaint
A complainant called the police station to report that on Corlies Avenue between Franklin Place and Colonial Avenue during the school drop-off time between 8:05 a.m. and 8:20 a.m., vehicles traveling southbound on Corlies Avenue are causing a hazard by making U-turns and then traveling northbound after dropping their children at the school. The complainant was advised that officers would check the area for signages prohibiting such maneuvers. The officers found that there is no signage prohibiting U-turns, and there is no designation of the street as a one-way street.
November 12 – Fraud
Pelham School District reported that one of their checks that had been mailed out had been altered, and $14,311.80 was removed from the school district’s bank account. The check was supposed to be payable to Houghton Mifflin but was altered to be payable to Brandon Spruce Harris at a Chicago address. Neither the authorization signature nor the signature on the back of the check was that of anyone in the school district. In addition to the signature of Brandon Spruce Harris on the back of the check, it also says that the check was approved by Navy Federal Credit Union. The check had been generated on October 30, picked up by the school district mail carrier, and delivered to the Pelham Post Office to be mailed from there.
November 8 – Fraud
A Pelham resident reported to police headquarters that on August 8, she had received emails from Fidelity that an investment account had been opened in her name using her social security number. She spoke with Fidelity and informed them that this was fraudulent and created an identity theft report with the FTC. As of now, no currency has been lost because of this fraud, and the complainant reported it to the police for documentation purposes only.
November 6 – Larceny
A complainant informed the police that a larceny occurred in the past. Her son had ridden his Mongoose Switchback bicycle to school, left it chained on the bike rack in front of the high school at approximately 8:00 a.m., and when he returned to the bike rack at approximately 3:00 p.m., the bicycle was no longer there. The school has footage from 11:00 a.m. from the day when it was taken, but it had not been viewed as of the day of the report to the police. The complainant just wanted to document the incident.