Third Suspect Arrested In Store Robbery

From the Middletown Police Department

The Middletown Police Department has made a third arrest with the July 18^th armed robbery, which occurred at the M Mart located at 221 Newfield St.

Investigative efforts by both the Middletown Police Department’s Investigative Services Unit and the Department’s Street Crimes Unit led to the arrest Willie Jenkins, age 27 of Cromwell, who was arrested on August 19^th.

Jenkins was charged with Robbery , Aiding in the Commission of Robbery and Conspiracy to Commit Robbery . Jenkins was presented at Middlesex Superior Court on August 19^th and held on a $200,000.00 court set bond.

Jenkins was identified as the “getaway driver” during this incident, in which two other suspects John Conley, age 22 of Hartford and Quincy Tyler, age 26 of East Hartford ( both are presently in custody) are alleged to have displayed a handgun and pointed it at the male attendant at the M Mart store. The suspects demanded money and cigarettes; however they were interrupted by a male customer who entered the store. Both the attendant and the male customer were held at gunpoint, while another female customer was held in a headlock and forced to the ground. The suspects then left the store with the money and cigarettes.

The Middletown Police Department is anticipating no further arrests in this case.

Armed Robbery Saturday Night on Newfield Street Store

From The Middletown Police Department

On Saturday night, at approx 10:35pm, Middletown Police received a report of an armed robbery that occurred at 221 Newfield St., Middletown, the M MART convenience store. The initial report indicated that two African-American males robbed the store utilizing a handgun and then fled the area. Patrol units immediately responded and began an initial investigation and canvassed the area for the suspects.

It was reported that the two suspects entered the store and walked towards the rear. One was described as a large built, dark-skinned male, approx. 6’3” and 250 lbs., wearing a long sleeved, light colored, button down shirt and jeans. He was described as being in possession of a smaller black handgun. The second suspect was described as a 6’0” lighter skinned male approx. 190 lbs., slender build, wearing a light colored t-shirt and plaid pants and a du-rag type headwear.

The Middletown Police Department’s Detective Bureau was contacted and responded to the scene. After an investigation it was revealed that at approx. 10:35 pm, the two suspects entered the store and appeared to be grabbing items from the water cooler. One customer left and another female customer entered the store and waited to purchase an item from the attendant.

One suspect approached the female customer from behind and violently placed her into a headlock so she could not move. He then made demands for the attendant to place all of the money from the drawer into a plastic bag. As this occured, the other suspect pulled out a handgun and pointed it at the attendant's head. Both suspects demanded money as well as cigarettes from the attendant.

The attendant obeyed the orders and at that time a male customer enters the store and interrupts the robbery. The dark skinned suspect then pointed the handgun at the male customer and ordered him to an area in the store behind where the incident took place. That customer obeyed the orders and both the attendant and male customer are held at gunpoint by the suspect. The female was held in a headlock hold with her face being pushed down towards the floor.

The suspect holding the woman ordered her to empty her pocket book and several personal items were taken from her. The victims and witness were then ordered to get onto the floor and not to say anything. The suspects managed to get away with two bags of an undetermined amount of money and quantity of cigarettes. They then fled from the store on foot and apparently got into a white colored four door vehicle that was waiting for them outside the store on the corner of Newfield St. and Westfield St. The vehicle then fled north on Newfield St.

The store’s video surveillance system was able to catch the robbery on tape and it is being analyzed by the Detective Bureau. Still photos were captured and the Middletown Police Department is requesting that the public assists in trying to identify the brazen robbery suspects. They are considered to be armed and very dangerous.

Any citizen that may have been in the area of Newfield and Westfield St. during that time and may have witnessed any of the suspects or get away vehicle are urged to contact the Middletown Police Department with any information regarding the incident. The description of the vehicle may be that of a white Nissan Altima (or similar type vehicle).

At this time it is believed that the suspects may have been from out of town and were possibly fleeing to the Hartford area after the robbery.

If you have information, please call the Middletown Police Department (860) 344-3200

Burglary Suspect Arrested

At approximately 12:30 AM, Wednesday morning Middletown police arrested Jeffrey Gramfield, 38, of 219 Crown Street, Meriden for attempted burglary, possession of burglary tools and possession of drug paraphernalia.

According to Deputy Chief Patrick McMahon, Gramfield was arrested in the block of Pearl Street between Liberty and Grand.

Police have been on heightened alert after a number of burglaries and break-ins in neighborhoods surrounding Wesleyan University. Yesterday police officers and a tracking dog were seen in the area of Home Avenue after a number of break-ins and attempted break-ins were reported there yesterday.

This is the report of one Home Avenue resident:

A man just walked across our lawn at 34 Home Ave, and students came
over immediately to tell me he fit the description of somebody
suspected to be breaking in to houses lately. Public Safety and MPD
came over and confirmed that 9 or 10 houses have been burgled in the
last 24 hours in the area immediately near campus. So: Lock doors,
windows, and stay alert to this.

Description: 40-something-ish dark complected Black male, 6 feet
tall or so, with braids or dreads under a do-rag (today) and wearing
a grey shirt (today).

There is also notice of the police work on Wesleying.

McMahon attributed the arrest to a call from an alert resident. McMahon encourages Middletown residents to report suspicious activity by calling the Police Department at 344-3200.

Gramfield was arraigned and is being held on $5000 bond.

A Disquieting Night in the Village

Another Break-in In the Village District

The clock read 1:10 AM, when the first wave of drunken Wes students hit my block of Pearl Street. They were exuberant with the end of classes, the beginning of the "reading" period, the onset of Spring and the availability of cheap beer on Main Street.

I wasn't angry, simply resigned. After a semester of brain-numbing academic work, a little release is essential.

"Reading period," is it? I don't think any of them were discussing Voltaire.

The second wave was a bit noisier, and the only coherent conversation I could make out was a young man who said, "It's because you're a girl," and the young woman he was accompanying said, "Exactly."

By the time a surge hit Broad Street, I was happy that they had decided on a route that didn't take them down Pearl. But I had my light on and I had Dennis Lehane's Darkness Take My Hand open, and was frankly freaked-out by this tale of a serial killer stalking Boston.

I was wired on a dose of decongestant, so I knocked back a hunk of the mystery before my eyes got heavy at around three. On the threshold of sleep, I heard feet scraping down the length of my gravel driveway. The motion sensor spotlight on the backporch clicked on, and I was down the stairway with my heart racing. But whoever set the motion detector off, was gone. I paced from window to window fueled to a buzz by adrenaline.

I sat in the front bay and watched as a huge oppossum ambled across the street. A Jeep Wagoneer circled the block twice. A Wes Public Safety cart passed a young man in hip-hop regalia who was walking down the middle of the street texting and drawing hard on a cigarette. A small grey car pulled into a neighbor's driveway, then backed out, traveled down the street a few hundred yards, and pulled in and out of another neighbor's driveway.

The adrenaline was just easing off when Lucy's cell phone began to ring at 3:45. It was her mother's alarm company. Her burglar alarm on Mansfield Terrace had been tripped, and Lucy's mother wasn't answering her phone.

"You've got to get over there," Lucy insisted. "I put on my sandals, grabbed a sweat shirt, and a length of sawed-off shovel handle and drove the six blocks to the house.

Tiny Mansfield Terrace was lined with six Middletown Police Cars, and an equal number of officers with flashlights blazing. One of the officers had a dog.

When I explained who I was, an officer told me that my mother-in-law was safe in her room, that they were sweeping the house and yard.

"We're trying to pick up a scent with the dog," he told me. "So if you could stay here for a moment, so we won't confuse the dog."

I'm always in favor of not confusing the dog.

Jane emerged from the house, and was invited to sit in one of the squad cars. The officer behind the wheel pulled down the street so she could talk to me. When he got next to me he rolled down the window, hooked a thumb in Jane's direction and asked: "Do you think you'll be able to post bond."

The joke helped crease the tension.

When we went back into the house, the officer took us into the basement and showed us how the burglar used a glass cutter to remove the laundry room window, entered, and when he or she couldn't get into the house (the door at the head of the stairs was bolted), the burglar had exited through a hatchway, which likely set off the alarm.

"It's the third one this evening," the officer said. "Same busted window. Same sneaker prints."

A house had been entered on Liberty Street, and one in a neighborhood closer to the Wesleyan campus.

There are a rash of break-ins, house entries, and burglaries in the neighborhood over the past week or so. Two car break-ins in the Pearl Street, College Street neighborhood. A mobile home entry. A house burglary on College.

The police officers indicated that this kind of crime spree is usually the work of a thief or two, and not necessarily an indication of a wider crime wave.

I sat and read Darkness Take My Hand at Jane's until I nodded off at 5:35. Jane woke me at 6:00 to let me know the sun had risen to make the neighborhood appear safe again.

Lock your doors. Arm your alarms. Leave your porch light on, and call the police (344-3200) if you notice anything suspicious.