Around 2:09PM yesterday, officers from the District A-1 (Downtown Boston) Safe Street Team were on patrol when they were approached by a passerby who provided officers with information about someone who “attempted to commit a crime.” The passerby then pointed out a suspect to officers that he reported had just walked into the T-Mobile store and attempted to use a credit card belonging to a female then walked out when he was unsuccessful.
Officers approached the suspect based on the information given to them by the Good Samaritan to further investigate and conduct a threshold inquiry. Officers asked the suspect if he had any identification on him belonging to someone else and he reached into his bag and handed over to the officer a stack of credit cards and identification belonging to a woman.
Officers, in the stack, found a card with the owner of the card’s number and contacted her about her cards. The victim informed officers that her bag was stolen while she was in a coffee store in Central Square and placed her bag on the back of her chair. The victim further reported to officers that she had filed a report with the Cambridge Police Department about the theft of her bag. Officers then Mirandized the suspect and asked him about the credit cards. The suspect then admitted to officers that he had stolen the bag from a woman at a coffee shop in Cambridge. The suspect then went on to tell officers that he had thrown the purse away in a trash bin in Cambridge but kept the cards.
The suspect, Justin Downey, 29, of North Quincy was arrested and charged with larceny over $200.00.