Monday, Dec 23rd

A joy ride for three 17 year-old White Plains boys turned into serious trouble in the early hours of Monday January 4th.  At 2 am a Scarsdale officer doing speed enforcement clocked a gray BMW going 73 m.p.h. down the Post Road, which has a speed limit of 30 m.p.h. Moreover, the headlights were off and the car had no license plates.

The officer stopped the car at the intersection of Burgess Road and the Post Road and three boys jumped out of the car. They all ran but police were able to stop two nearby.  The boys were brought in for questioning and later that day the third suspect was tracked down by White Plains police.

The 2004 BMW 330 had been stolen from the Pepe Infiniti car dealership in White Plains and the boys were charged with criminal possession of stolen property and unauthorized use of a motor vehicle.

In other news from the Scarsdale Police:

A Garth Road resident returned home to his apartment on January 2nd to find that the locks had been changed. The man was subletting the apartment at 30 Garth Road from a Greenacres resident. The tenant got in touch with the landlord of the building who had no knowledge of the change in locks but was able to give the tenant access to the apartment.  When the tenant went inside the apartment he found that all of his possessions, including his clothing and cell phone were gone.  Apparently, the man who held the lease on the apartment wanted him out!

The Greenacres resident who changed the locks and removed the tenant's possessions was changed with criminal tampering, burglary, criminal trespassing and grand larceny.

A Greenacres resident turned in her deceased husband's gun to Scarsdale Police. The Colt 42 firearm was given to the police for safekeeping on December 28, 2009.

Another Greenacres resident returned home from vacation  on 12/28 to find that someone had driven her BMW without her permission.  The gas level was lower than it was when she left and she wanted to make a report to the police.

Police received a report of a loud group of teens congregating on Cartesan Road around 10 pm on the night of 12/28.  They found nine boys on the street, one who was holding a can of beer.  Since the boy was only 16 he was issued an appearance ticket for a violation and charged with possession of an alcoholic beverage with the intent to consume by a person under the age of 21.

Police received a report that a woman lost control of her car when she was putting on her gloves while driving on December 29. According to her report, she hit a parked car at Putnam and Huntington Roads, and flipped over in her 4-door Chevrolet sedan. Miraculously she was not injured.

The daughter of a Sherbrooke Park resident reports that jewelry is missing from the home of her now-deceased mother.  The elderly woman was under the care of hospice workers and the matter is now under investigation.

A Foxhall Road homeowner found some interesting items in his driveway on the morning of January 3rd.  He called police when he noticed four pumpkins, three Christmas trees and three traffic cones at his home.  Luckily no damage had been done.

The New Year got off to a rough start for Danielle Long, age 18, of Mahopac. She was a passenger in a Blue Bird Tax (New Rochelle) and traveling on the Sprain Brook Parkway at 1:25 am on January 1st when she started yelling at the driver and then punched him while he was driving the cab. The driver pulled off at the Jackson Avenue exit and called the police.

When police arrived, the cab driver did not want to press charges and left the scene.  However, the officer smelled alcohol on Ms. Long’s breath and clothing and she was described as “combative and indifferent.” While the Detective was speaking to her, Ms. Long punched him with a closed fist on the right side of his face.  Having punched an officer, she was arrested and taken back to Greenburgh Police Headquarters where she was charged with harassment and violent behavior. Following the booking she was dispatched to Westchester Medical Center for evaluation and her mother was notified.

A home invasion took place Sunday 12/20 at 4PM at a home on Fort Hill Lane off Fort Hill Road, near Ardsley Road. Based on information from the police, the homeowners, a man and his wife, ages 65 and 63, answered the door. Three men forced their way in, subdued the couple at knifepoint, tied them up, and then ransacked the house, removing among other things a 51 inch TV, computers and jewelry. Fortunately nobody was hurt. The police are looking for three male suspects described as three Hispanic males, one armed with a knife. We understand that the suspects did not wear masks.  Based on the use of a weapon and the willingness of the suspects to confront the homeowners, the police do not believe this latest incident is connected to other burglaries in the area. Greenburgh detectives are currently investigating with the assistance of the Westchester County Intelligence Unit, which is provided by the Westchester County District Attorney's office.

Until suspects are apprehended, residents are advised to not open their door to anyone they do not know, to take all precautions to avoid burglaries by keeping their houses locked and alarmed, and to report immediately anything that looks suspicious to the Greenburgh police.

In a separate incident, residents on Warnke Road report that at 10 am Monday morning 12/21,  a man drove up to their house in a white van and rang the doorbell. He told the sitter (who would not open the door) that he was there to do a house inspection (which was not true). The residents called the Greenburgh police to report the incident but it was later learned that the man was an employee of J.P. McHale Pest Management who had come to the site to do a legitimate home inspection.

Please share this information with your neighbors Edgemont residents as soon as possible.

Another inebriated off-duty County employee did some damage in the wee hours of 12/27.  Yancy Johnson, age 48 of Yonkers who is a corrections officer in Valhalla, was driving south on Central Park Avenue near Ardsley Road when she veered into the right lane and struck a southbound police ambulance that was responding to a call for medical assistance. Johnson refused the breathalizer test, but was swaying and having trouble standing up. She was taken to Greenburgh police headquarters and charged with driving while intoxicated. Her car was towed and she was ordered to appear in court on January 5th. There were no injuries as a result of the accident.

In other police news from Greenburgh this week, a group of thieves stole over $1,000 in merchandise from Pathmark on Central Avenue on 12/24 at 1 a.m .  Seven to eight suspects, working together took a large amount of merchandise out of the store without paying and drove off in two cars, heading south on Central Avenue. The store manager called the police who located two cars fitting his description on Central Avenue. Police  pulled the cars over and saw the merchandise through the car windows. The employee was able to identify the suspects who were taken to headquarters and charged with possession of stolen property, possession of burglar tools and operating a vehicle without a license.  The car was impounded and towed and when it was inventoried by the police they found another $3,500 in stolen merchandise in the trunk.  The identified suspects include Milton Simon age 21 of Staten Island, NY, Mahogany Abney age 23 of Jamaica, N.Y., and Said Hammam, age 22 of Rochester, NY.  Four  unknown black men who were involved in the larceny remain at large.

An off-duty policeman at the Best Buy parking lot on Central Avenue on the afternoon of 12/23 saw a man walking around the lot pulling on car door handles in an effort to find an open car. When the man left the lot in his car, the officer summoned the Greenburgh police to follow him.  They pulled him over and found the passenger sweating profusely with tools on his front seat. The man, identified as  Luis Castillo of the Bronx, was unsteady on his feet and said, “I’m sorry I needed the money” and “I just took the methadone 30 minutes ago.”  The man was booked for driving under the influence and for possession of burglar tools.

Harry Stone of New Rochelle reported that his truck, containing over $24,000 in mink coats was stolen from a parking lot on Central Avenue sometime between 12/18 and 12/20.  The 1995 truck is valued at $10,000.

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Happy Hannukah, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all from Scarsdale10583.com!