Crime & Safety
Police: Kids Set Off Theater Fire Alarm, Broke Into 3 Cars
The teens set fire to a blanket and paper in a stairwell leading to the AMC theater complex on Waterfront Place.
Four children are accused of breaking into cars and stealing cell phones, GPS units and credit cards during a weekend crime spree, Port Chester police said.
The group, which includes two middle school-age children, was caught after setting off a fire alarm in a stairwell connecting Panera Bread and the movie theater complex at the waterfront, Lt. James Ladeairous said.
Police were called to the Waterfront Place area at 6:11 a.m. on Saturday for a report of kids pulling a fire alarm. After talking to witnesses, one officer located a group of kids sitting down outside 50 S. Main St., while another officer found the source of the fire alarm. The children had lit a blanket and paper on fire in a stairwell of the movie theater complex to set off the alarm, according to police.
An officer and shift supervisor who responded to South Main Street found a pair of cell phones, a Garmin GPS, a set of keys, two credit cards and a New England Patriots jacket on the children. They called the parents, who allowed police to interview the children.
The kids admitted to breaking into a car on Poningo Street and taking the GPS unit. Police located the car, which had been ransacked, and notified the owner, Ladeairous said.
The credit cards, cell phones, keys and jacket came from three different cars in Greenwich and Byram. Port Chester police notified their counterparts in Greenwich, who located the cars and tracked down the owners.
Three of the suspects, ages 12, 13 and 14, were referred to the department's youth officer and will qualify for youthful offender status. Kids who qualify for YO status can have convictions scrubbed from their records, usually in exchange for things like court-ordered community service.
The fourth suspect, 16-year-old Alexis Hernandez of Port Chester, was charged with several misdemeanors for criminal possession of stolen property, as well as a violation and misdemeanor for criminal trespass. He was arraigned in village court and scheduled to return this week.
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