In full bike path parking lot, car window smashed, tote stolen

Monday, August 6, 2012
by Christine Yeres

At 8:30 a.m. on Saturday morning, a New Castle resident parked his 11-year-old BMW sedan in the bike path parking lot across from the A&P shopping enter.  The lot was full of cars.  He placed his wallet, money clip and Blackberry in a canvass tote on the front passenger seat, locked the car and went for a run.

Around 10:00 a.m., a passing cyclist noticed that the sedan’s driver’s window was smashed and phoned the police, who came to the scene.

When the runner returned to his car at 12:15 p.m., he found a New Castle police officer waiting for him.  The car owner reported to the officer that the canvass tote and contents (credit cards, cash, Blackberry) were missing.  Curiously, although driver’s window had been smashed, the tote had somehow been snatched from the front passenger seat—without opening the door.  Since the car had remained locked, no alarm had sounded.

In cancelling his credit cards that afternoon, the owner learned that his debit card had been used successfully at Home Depot at 11:00 a.m.(no P.I.N. required for debit!), and that someone had attempted to use his corporate credit card, but had been denied.

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