BRATTLEBORO — An area man has been jailed on dozens of charges related to a three-state stealing spree, but police say that alone has yet to end a spike in drug-related vehicle break-ins in the town with the most opioid overdoses in the state.
Patrick Boyer, 33, is imprisoned in Massachusetts pending 20 Bay State court cases after Brattleboro Police cited him four times in a month — twice at a Central Street house known for drug dealing — for allegedly stealing vehicles, credit and debit cards and eight catalytic converters.
Brattleboro Police have wrestled all winter with a surge in calls and social media complaints about strangers rummaging through or removing items from cars and trucks — from 26 reports in November 2018 through February 2019 to 133 for the most recent same four months.
“That is a huge uptick,” Police Chief Michael Fitzgerald says of the 411% increase.
In response, authorities have patrolled in cruisers in some neighborhoods and unmarked cars in others, momentarily pushing thieves to the nearby small towns of Northfield in Massachusetts and Chesterfield and Hinsdale in New Hampshire.
Brattleboro Police received a report last month that a credit card stolen from Northfield was used to buy more than $600 worth of gift cards from two Brattleboro businesses. That led authorities to Boyer, who they previously had cited Jan. 12 for disorderly conduct, Jan. 14 for stealing a vehicle and the eight catalytic converters and Jan. 19 for attempting to use a stolen credit card.
Police cited Boyer for a fourth time Feb. 13, although he was not imprisoned until the end of the month, when Massachusetts called for his extradition on larceny charges there.
A capacity crowd at a recent Brattleboro forum expressed frustration that Vermont statutes allow people to be released repeatedly to commit more crimes, don’t prohibit anyone from entering a vehicle without permission and instead only call for charges if something is damaged or stolen.
“I’ve been broken into seven times in a year and a half,” one woman said. “These criminals have more rights than we do.”
Rep. Nader Hashim, a former Vermont State Police trooper turned paralegal from neighboring Dummerston, has introduced a bill — H.923 — that would expand the crime of unlawful trespass to include entering a vehicle without the owner’s consent and call for a $250 fine.
“Right now in Vermont, you can enter another person’s vehicle, not take anything or break anything and it’s not a crime,” says Hashim, a Democrat. “I do believe that people have an expectation of privacy for their vehicles.”
Brattleboro, the first exit off Interstate 91 and the nearest Vermont community to the New England drug-route hubs of Holyoke, Mass., and Hartford, Conn., has seen opioid overdoses skyrocket from 20 in 2010 to more than 100 (with 10 resulting deaths) this past year.
The town, population 12,046, has gone so far as to debate suing local independent pharmacies in hopes of recovering money spent on related police and public safety issues. The sudden increase in larcenies has reignited local debate about the persistent opioid problem.
Police believe the number of thefts from vehicles is higher than what’s reported because many people don’t realize something’s missing or figure the loss of spare change or small items isn’t a priority. They are reminding residents to lock their property and keep valuables out of view. They also are asking people to contact them even if someone has only rummaged through their belongings.
“Notification will at a minimum alert us to potential criminal activity,” Fitzgerald says.
Read the story on VTDigger here: Brattleboro arrest doesn’t end 411% rise in vehicle break-ins.