New Canaan K-9 Finds Pot in Potato Chip Bag

Police say a 19-year-old Norwalk man faces drug charges after police, noticing a defective brake light, stopped his car and leading the department’s K-9 unit to find marijuana.

Matthew Edwards, of North Taylor Avenue in Norwalk, was arrested at 4:01 p.m. on April 17 and charged with possession of marijuana and illegal sale of marijuana.

According to Sgt. Carol Ogrinc, public information officer at the , Officer Michael McFadden and Zira, the department’s K-9 dog, saw a vehicle traveling north on Locust Avenue and Route 123 with a defective brake light, and stopped the car on Smith Ridge Road and Twin Pond Lane.

Zira indicated that there were drugs in the car, and police during a subsequent search found a glass jar under the driver’s seat that contained plastic a sandwich bag with pot and four more, smaller bags inside that, Ogrinc said. Police also found a potato chip bag with mini-bags inside, including seven with marijuana, she said.

A passenger, an 18-year-old New Canaan resident, wasn’t connected or involved in the drugs, Ogrinc said.

Edwards was scheduled to appear April 27 in state Superior Court in Norwalk.

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Police say a woman who “hid” her key near her car when she parked at Waveny to walk her dog, returned to find her purse—a Tod’s brand left inside the car and valued at $1,000—had been stolen when she returned less than one hour later.

According to Ogrinc, the 51-year-old Bedford, NY woman parked at the lower lot in front of Waveny house—closest to the water tower baseball/softball field—at about 9:30 a.m. on April 16. She apparently left the key somewhere and came back at about 10:10 a.m. to find the purse inside missing, Ogrinc said.

Police are investigating.

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A 46-year-old town woman told police that someone took about $100 in cash and items from her purse when she left it in her vehicle, unlocked, when collecting her child from East School on Little Brook Road.

According to Ogrinc, the larceny was reported at 4:14 p.m. on April 16.

The woman had spent about 40 minutes away from her vehicle, she said.

Police are investigating.

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About $2,000 in stolen copper and damages were reported at a Cedar Lane residence that’s under construction, police say.

Specifically, $1,400 in copper downspouts (about 40 feet) were taken and additional 30 feet were damaged (that’s $600 or so) some time between 4:30 p.m. on April 13 and 8:05 a.m. on April 14, according to police.

The contractor, from New York, only reported the thefts and damage to police a few days later, on April 17, Ogrinc said.

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A man who identified himself as “Franklin” is under investigation from New Canaan police for what appears to be a computer scam.

Apparently, “Franklin” phoned a 66-year-old woman on New Norwalk Road at around 1:54 p.m. on April 18, telling her that her own compuer was infected and “displaying error codes on the Microsoft server,” Ogrinc said.

She was told that she needed to download a program and did so—shelling out $145 in the process, likely by credit card—to “buy” the software.

Later, after the woman and her 82-year-old husband had purchased a new computer, the same “Franklin” rang back trying to sell the couple on a similar thing, Ogrinc said. The husband became suspicious and reported the man, she said.

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According to police, the owner of a local auto body shop that had towed a vehicle to its lot told New Canaan police that the operator of that vehicle came and stole it from him.

Ogrinc said that at 10:37 p.m. on April 21, AC Auto Body reported that a vehicle belonging to a Stamford man, towed earlier that evening, had been picked up again by the Stamford man who owned it and driven away.

Police say the vehicle showed up as unregistered, but the man who owned it said it wasn’t.

The case is under investigation.