Crime & Safety
Police Blotter: Police Suspect Link Between Thefts in Church Parking Lot
Woman runs into parked car, dog bites jogger and more than $3,400 worth of bike equipment is purchased using stolen credit cards.
The suspect a connection after a woman's purse was stolen from the back seat of her car in the parking lot of the , on West Maple Road, Wednesday. This comes after a .
According to police reports, the woman parked her car around 9:15 a.m. and left it unlocked while she ran inside to pick up her children from the daycare center. Reports state she left her purse in the backseat. When she came back, she found the purse and everything inside gone, including a cell phone, gift cards, cash and a camera worth around $1,000. Police later tracked her credit card to the Shell Gas Station at the corner of Maple and Lahser, where it was used once before it was canceled.
In the Nov. 17 incident, a different woman left her wallet on the front seat of her car, with her doors unlocked and the engine running while she went inside to pick up her children from daycare. When she called to cancel her credit cards after the theft, reports indicate that one of her cards had been used shortly thereafter at the same Shell Gas Station.
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BPD Commander Terry Kiernan said police checked but there were no surveillance cameras at the Shell Station. In both instances, he said, the suspect or suspects only used the card for small purchases. Road patrol officers have been alerted, he said, and will keep an eye on the area.
Bicycles, equipment worth $3,400 purchased from local shop with stolen credit cards
Detectives are investigating a case of fraud after one or more men purchased more than $3,400 worth of gift cards, bicycles and equipment from on Woodward Avenue using stolen credit cards. According to reports, a man called the store Nov. 20 and used a credit card to purchase $1,700 worth of gift cards, claiming they were for his son. Later that day, police reports say a man claiming to be the son came to the store and spent part of the gift cards on three bicycles and a bike carrier. Birmingham Police Commander Terry Kiernan said store employees wrote down the man's license plate as he drove away.
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Two days later, on Nov. 22, reports say the same man who first called the store called again, this time purchasing $1,707 worth of bicycles and equipment using a different credit card. Later, the same man who came to store to spend gift cards on Nov. 20 came to pick up the second called-in purchase, this time driving a different vehicle.
According to reports, it wasn't until later that employees discovered that both credit cards were stolen. Kiernan said police are not sure whether the caller and the man who came to the store are the same, but are following up on both license plates. Both are registered to the same non-Birmingham address, one, he said, to a man, the other a woman.
Dog bites man on his morning jog
The city attorney is currently looking to charge a Birmingham resident after her dog bit a man jogging on Arlington Street the morning of Nov. 27. According to reports, the man was jogging when three white dogs, all of which belong to the woman, ran toward him. The larger of the three dogs, reports state, bit him on the forearm. The dog continued to chase the man (who did not require medical attention) for a short distance. Police later found the dogs' owner, who lived in the neighborhood and had been charged earlier this year for not keeping her dogs under control.
Woman driving with suspended license, liquor in car hits parked car on Old Woodward
A woman is awaiting a court date after hitting a parked car near Hamilton Avenue and Old Woodward during the early morning hours Nov. 26. According to police reports, witnesses said the woman's car struck a parked car at 2:40 a.m. then continued driving south on Old Woodward. Kiernan said she then turned around south of Brown Street and drove back up Old Woodward, when police pulled her over. According to reports, the woman was driving with a suspended license and had a bottle of liquor in her backseat with the seal broken. She was charged with the hit and run, driving with a suspended license and having an open container of alcohol in a moving vehicle.
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