Police are urging New Canaan merchants to report any suspicious activity after three New York City men were arrested Thursday evening after committing fraud at a downtown business.
At about 5:45 p.m., police received a report of suspicious activity at Walgreens, according to a press release issued by Sgt. Carol Ogrinc, public information officer. After one failed attempt, two of the men used a credit card to purchase a gift card in the amount of $600, police said. They then left the store quickly, leaving items on the checkout counter, and got into a waiting vehicle on Grove Street.
Police stopped the men—ages 19, 20 and 31—and after smelling marijuana in the car, searched it and found several gift cards and fraudulent credit cards, pot, baggies and a scale.
All three were charged with conspiracy to commit illegal use of a credit card, and the 20-year-old, from the Bronx, additional was charged with illegal use of a credit card, possession of marijuana with intent to sell and possession of drug paraphernalia.
New Canaan Police Chief Leon Krolikowski said that the arrested men appear to have been involved in similar crimes in Darien, Norwalk and New York. Police are following up.
“The success of this investigation is the direct result of the diligence and aggressiveness of the members of the New Canaan Police Department’s Patrol & Investigations Division, and a Walgreen’s employee that was observant whom provided critical information to investigating officers,” Krolikowski said. “The alert Walgreen’s employee that reported this suspicious activity will receive an award from our department.”