Press Releases
Date: November 12, 2007
Contact: Paul H. Magee, Chief of Police
Department Receives Awards
The Rochester Police Department recently received two awards at the American Automobile Association annual awards ceremony held recently at the Venus De Milo. The department was first recognized for having 25 or more years without a pedestrian fatality.
The second award received was the "gold award" recognizing the department’s outstanding efforts and achievements relating to traffic safety and education in the community. This is the highest level of award issued by AAA.
Programs leading to the award were our elder driver program, speed enforcement radar trailer plan, child safety seat technician availability, bicycle helmet giveaway and ice cream reward program, driver ed and pre-prom safety programs, as well as our participation in the click it or ticket traffic enforcement program.
Many officers in the department have various roles in these programs we offer and the receipt of this reward is a direct reflection of their commitment to keeping the citizens of Rochester safe. I am very proud of their efforts. The awards are on display at the Rochester Police Station.
Date: February 22, 2008
Contact: Paul H. Magee, Chief of Police
Pair Arrested in Daytime Theft from Rochester Business
Rochester Police received a report that two men had stolen a load of aluminum pipe and fittings from Stearn’s Irrigation on Cranberry Highway in Rochester. Store employees became suspicious when the two men arrived and drove to the rear of the business without checking in at the desk first.
An employee went to check on the pair and questioned them when he found them loading materials in their pickup truck. The suspects gave the employee a story about picking the materials up for a customer, but when the employee went inside to check with the store owner, the pair fled with the stolen pipes and fittings valued at nearly $1,000.00.
Police broadcast a BOLO for the vehicle and Wareham Police stopped the truck as it drove onto I-195 heading west. The pair was identified by the employee and subsequently arrested by Officer Robert Small and Officer Donald Kemmett of the Rochester Police Department. One suspect admitted they stole the materials so they could sell it.
Rochester Police charged Richard E. Cope, 47, of Jouvette Street in New Bedford and Gregory M. Moore, 45, of Square Rigger Road in Nantucket with larceny of property over $250 and use of a motor vehicle in the commission of a felony. The pair was held pending arraignment in Wareham District Court this morning.
Cope has an extensive criminal record that includes convictions for drug and theft related offenses dating back to the mid 1980’s.
Date: March 21, 2008
Contact: Paul H. Magee, Chief of Police
Crime Wave is a Family Affair
Father son team arrested for break-ins
Local police pooled their resources in order to nab a father and son team suspected in numerous house breaks around Southeastern Massachusetts. The case began when Rochester Police Officer Robert Small identified the pair as possible suspects in two Rochester housebreaks earlier this year.
Using a cross agency computer system, it was discovered that the suspects were also involved in at least one theft in Carver in early December. That discovery led police to meet and discuss other housebreaks in Plympton, Lakeville, Middleboro, and Pembroke. The departments shared reports and other knowledge of the suspects to try and build their cases.
On Tuesday, the pair attempted to break into a house on Walnut Plain Road in Rochester. The homeowner who had been on the second floor doing housework heard the doorbell and made her way downstairs to find one of the suspects standing in her kitchen. When confronted, he stated he was looking for the police station and fled from the house in a green Mercury Sable used in the previous Rochester housebreaks.
As short time later, the pair was again foiled while casing a house in Middleboro. One of the suspects pounded on the door to see if anyone was home. When the homeowner answered the door, the suspect again fled away in the green vehicle. The homeowner provided police with a suspect description and vehicle registration that pointed back to the father son team.
Police decided to conduct surveillance on the pair. On Thursday morning, Detective Joseph Perkins of the Middleboro Police department coordinated officers in unmarked vehicles from Carver, Lakeville, Middleboro, Plympton, and Rochester who followed the duo as they drove around Plymouth and eventually headed north into Kingston.
While officers were following the suspects, they observed them pull into a driveway on Elm Street around 1:45 P.M. and notified Kingston Police. Officer made another pass by the address and only one suspect was in the vehicle. Several officers pulled in and blocked the vehicles path while others went to the rear of the house where they discovered the door had been forced open. The son, who was in the vehicle with a two-way radio serving as a lookout, was arrested after a brief struggle. Officers called for the second suspect to come out of the house and when he did, he was placed under arrest as well.
Kingston Police charged William A. Luz III, 37 of Mayflower Street in Plymouth and William A. Luz Jr., 55 of South Street in Plymouth with Breaking and entering, destruction of property over $250, attempt to commit a crime (larceny), and possession of burglarious tools.
Investigators went to the fathers South Street home where they recovered numerous jewelry boxes and jewelry in pillow cases believed taken during area house breaks. Both subjects were being held on $10,000 cash bail.
Investigators plan to meet next week and compare notes to see if the duo were involved in other thefts. Rochester Police plan to charge the pair with Tuesday’s break-in as well as at least one other.
Carver police will also be taking additional charges for residential breaks in that town as the result of recovered property identified from crimes there. Their investigation is continuing.
Middleboro Police plan to charge the pair with house breaks in their community once investigators finish up reviewing reports.
Date: March 29, 2008
Contact: Paul H. Magee, Chief of Police
Police Investigate Several Car Break-ins
By Jennifer Lade, Standard-Times staff writer
ROCHESTER — A series of car break-ins Thursday night has prompted police to warn residents to lock their vehicles and not keep valuables inside.
Police received reports of thefts from about a dozen unlocked cars Thursday night or early Friday morning, according to Police Chief Paul Magee. Cash, electronics and other valuables were taken from cars parked on Walnut Plain Road, Snipatuit Road and Pine Street sometime before 3 a.m. Friday.
"We have had a couple sporadic (breaks) over the last two weeks, but nothing like we had last night," Chief Magee said.
The break-ins were thought to have been committed by the same person or group of people, possibly one person on foot searching the cars and another driving and picking up the thief, he added. In all cases, there was no forced entry into the cars — there was no need for it.
"People are leaving the car unlocked with GPS and cell phones," he said.
GPS units can cost anywhere from under $100 to upwards of $1,000. Police say they are attractive to thieves because they are easily removed from cars and can be cashed in at pawn shops or sold online for a significant sum. Although companies have the ability to track a specific unit if it is registered, most people never register their item with the manufacturer. Technologically savvy thieves will know enough to reset the device or turn it off, making it impossible to track.
Car break-ins are becoming a regional problem.
Wareham also had reports of two unlocked cars being entered Thursday night, although nothing was stolen from either vehicle, said Public Information Officer Lt. Irving Wallace.
A couple weeks ago, Lt. Wallace said, four or five cars, all in the same neighborhood, were broken into, their windows smashed and valuables taken. His advice to residents is to keep expensive items out of sight.
"Don't leave things in your vehicles that look attractive to steal," he said, adding that people often leave cameras, iPods and briefcases out in the open, enticing thieves to enter and take the goods.
"Whatever you have valuable, you try to lock it within your trunk."
Also earlier this month, Lakeville Police Chief Mark Sorel issued a public advisory after several motor vehicle break-ins occurred on the north side of town. And last October, Wareham police arrested a man suspected to be involved in several car break-ins in town. He was caught with illicit drugs and several cell phones, credit cards, CDs and a digital camera, all believed stolen.
To alert residents of the break-ins, Chief Magee used the Plymouth County Sheriff Department's communicator system, which calls phone numbers in the database to notify people of crimes and other emergency situations. The message informed residents of the nature of the crimes and reminded them to lock their cars. If residents notice their car has been broken into, they are asked to call police, even if nothing was stolen, to help officers determine the route taken by the thieves.
Residents with unlisted numbers will not be called unless they contact the sheriff's office at (508) 830-6324 and have their phone number added to the database, Chief Magee said.
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