Branford and East Haven police executed three search warrants at storage facilities in Branford, East Haven and New Haven, uncovering a major fencing operation in which items stolen from two major local stores, Home Depot and Target, were sold to others.
The items included lawn mowers, snow blowers and other equipment that is often kept outside near the store’s parking lots. Other items were allegedly stolen from inside the store and then fenced to others in what police describe as an organized operation.
At this point no arrest have been made. “However, we believe that we will have an arrest made soon,” said Branford Detective Lieutenant William Carroll, who is heading the investigation. Those involved are believed to live in Branford.
The investigation, which has been ongoing for several months, culminated in the seizure this past Friday when detectives seized truckloads of retail merchandise that also included power and hand tools, ATVs, power washers, household appliances and other items.
The police also seized two pick-up trucks filled with retail merchandise. They confiscated the trucks, which, along with hundreds of other items, are now located in a room at police headquarters.
“We could open up our own Wal-Mart,” Capt. Morgan said of the hundreds of items now being counted and sorted.
There were a number of people involved in the operation, Capt. Morgan said, including the thieves, their middleman and a distributor who sold the items at various venues, including the internet.
“Everyone involved made money,” he added.
Detective Carroll said Home Depot and Target cooperated with the inquiry. On Monday the store sent representatives to scan the merchandise to try to determine what came from which store. Carroll said that the items stolen were “fenced in a number of illegal operations.”
Branford Chief Kevin Halloran said that detectives, officers from East Haven Police Department and representatives from Home Depot and Target have begun the daunting process of cataloging all of the evidence to determine who owns what.
“I would image that the process could take the officers days to complete,” the chief said. “I, along with the citizens of our communities, am grateful for their diligent work in disrupting this type of organized criminal activity.”
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