The following information was provided by the Watertown Police Department.
Arrests
None
Incidents
Watertown Police received 2 reports of unemployment fraud from Dec. 14-20.
Dec. 14, 10:47 a.m.: Two men were caught on video at the Santander Bank damaging the ATM inside the bank. The pair was seen at about 2:13 a.m. on Dec. 14 approaching the ATM and doing enough damage to the machine to make it inoperable. Police said it does not appear that the men were attempting to break into the machine. It will cost an estimated $1,000 to repair the damage. The suspects are described as one white male and one African-American male, both in their early 20s, who wore dark winter clothing. Police are investigating.
Dec. 15, 4:23 p.m.: A resident of a condominium building on Main Street noticed a small hole in a window screen. It appeared to have been made by a BB gun. The window faces out the rear of the building. The resident is unsure when it happened, and noticed it right before he called police.
Dec. 18, 2:45 a.m.: An officer patrolling near Arsenal Street spotted someone at the maintenance door of Home Depot. When he approached, he saw the man was tagging the door with white spray paint. The suspect was writing “Sing” on the door. The suspect, a 20-year-old Watertown man, cleaned the door with water. He also admitted to tagging a truck at Target, and he cleaned off that paint, too.
Dec. 18, 9:08 a.m.: A 73-year-old Watertown woman received an alarm from her computer alerting her of possible fraudulent activity on her account. She found a number, which she called, and the person she spoke to instructed her to purchase $5,000 in gift cards. She bought five Capital One Visa cards, and cards for Nike, Apple and Sephora. She gave the card information to the caller, but afterward she spoke to her daughter and realized it was a scam. She was able to shut down the $2,000 in Apple gift cards before they were used, but could not stop payment for the other $3,000. Police are investigating.
Dec, 18, 9:46 a.m.: A Watertown resident mailed a $2,000 rent check to her landlord, but later heard that it had not been received. She checked with her bank and found it was cashed at a bank in Lawrence. The check was signed in the landlord’s name, but not in his handwriting. Police are investigating.
Dec. 19, 3:54 p.m.: A clerk at Moda & Tobacco in the Watertown Mall reported he had been grabbed and threatened by a customer. The customer, who the clerk was familiar with, entered the store and was told to leave because of past disturbances he had caused. The customer began to yell and grabbed a bag of tobacco out of the refrigerator valued at $6 and put it in his pocket. Then he threw some at the clerk and went around the back of the counter, grabbed the the clerk by the jacket and threatened to do him harm. He pushed the clerk against the wall and left the store. Police are investigating.