The following information was provided by the Watertown Police Department.
Arrests
Dec. 6, 8:30 a.m.: An officer at the Watertown Library recognized a man who was wanted on a warrant. The man was placed under arrest without incident. Arvedis Vartanian, 68, of Waltham, was arrested on the warrant from Waltham District Court for larceny.
Dec. 9, 12:30 a.m.: Police were dispatched to the Inn on Arsenal motel for an investigation. When they were there, they discovered that one of the guests at the motel had three warrants for his arrest. Andrew Arsenault, 46, of Waltham, was arrested on the warrants, one from Boston District Court for larceny from a building, a second from that court for trespassing and shoplifting, and one from one out of Quincy District Court for possession of a Class A drug and receiving stolen property.
Incidents
Dec. 7, 5 p.m.: A woman reported being scammed. She received a call from someone she thought was from her work. She was told to purchase $1,200 worth of gift cards. She did so and gave the information to the caller. Later she determined that the person was not from her work.
Dec. 8, 2 p.m.: A Belmont Street resident got an email confirming that a package had been delivered to his home on Dec. 1, but when he went to look for it the package was not there. The package contained clothing worth $91.
Dec. 9, 9:30 p.m.: A woman reported that she received an email regarding a purchase of $69 using PayPal from a company that sells playgrounds. She had not made the purchase and called a number she found online. The person on the phone said her account had been compromised and was told to download an app called AnyDesk, so she could share her screen with the person on the phone. The person then changed the password to some of her accounts, including her credit cards. The person said the only way the compromised account could be fixed was by buying three gift cards for $500 each from Target. She then was told to buy eight more for a total of $5,500. She gave the person on the phone the gift card information. The number was not a real one for PayPal. Police are investigating.
Dec. 10, 3:30 p.m.: A woman reported mail was stolen from her front porch. She left a package there and someone took it. Police confirmed with the Post Office that it was not retrieved by a mail carrier.
Dec. 10, 10:30 p.m.: Two motorized bikes were taken from homes on Philip Darch Road. One was a black Tao Tao and the other was a green Nitro. Both were later recovered, but had some damage. The mirror came off one, the other one had damage to the steering shaft. Police are investigating.
Dec. 11, 2 p.m.: A Mt. Auburn Street resident received notification of an address change from the Post Office, but the man said he had not made the change. He contacted the Post Office and discovered it happened on Dec. 1. He also received a notification in the mail from Bank of America saying a new credit card had been opened in his name. He had not opened the account. The resident canceled the card and the Postal Police have been notified of the case.
Two more “innocents among us” have joined the club of running to the store to buy hundred’s of dollars worth of Gift Cards and giving the numbers to the person they don’t even know who called them on the phone. I’m beginning to believe that Darwin was right!