Crime & Safety

Suspect in Saxe Car Break-In Wanted in String of Fairfield County and Westchester Burglaries

Cell phone records help ID suspect who is wanted by police in Darien, Fairfield, Greenwich and White Plains, too.

A Bronx man who was wanted in connection with stealing a purse from a locked car parked in front of Saxe Middle School in October, turned himself in at headquarters on March 22. Charles Mills, 40, of Grand Concourse, is also wanted in connection with a series of similar burglaries in other Fairfield and Westchester County towns, according to police.

On October 1, a 38-year-old New Canaan resident told police her car had been and a Louis Vuitton purse had been taken from the passenger side floor. The purse, valued at $1,000, contained a Prada wallet, valued at $800, credit cards and approximately $400-500 in cash. As reported in Patch at the time, police requested video surveillance from Saxe.

 “We viewed video surveillance from Saxe Middle School and it did identify the time frame of the larceny at 12:10 to 12:50 p.m.,” Ogrinc said. “On video we did see a suspect get out of a newer model white BMW. A black male, bald, with a muscular build, got out and smashed the passenger side window, removed the purse and took off.”

Find out what's happening in New Canaanwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Ogrinc said police could see the car had a New York license plate, but were unable to get details of the plate number.  She said they suspended the case.

 “We went as far as we could with what we had,” she said.

Find out what's happening in New Canaanwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

 Two weeks later New Canaan police received a bulletin from other area departments as well as Westchester police, according to Ogrinc.

“White Plains informed us they had a similar break-in with a person that matched our person,” she said. And, she said, so did Greenwich.

In mid-December, Greenwich police identified a suspect for break-ins there, using cell phone records. New Canaan police requested the cell phone records from Greenwich police.

“We continued our investigation now that we had a suspect,” Ogrinc said. “We got cell phone records from Greenwich that placed him in the area of Saxe at the time on Oct. 1. Based on that, and vehicle matching, we got our warrant.”

Ogrinc said cell phone records can track the physical location of incoming, outgoing and attempted calls.

When Mills turned himself in on the morning of March 22, he was charged with third degree burglary and third degree larceny. He posted $20,000 bond and is scheduled to appear in Norwalk court on April 4.

While he was being processed in New Canaan, police found and served warrants for Fairfield and Darien police.

Mills was wanted by both departments for violations of probation. He posted $10,000 bond for the Fairfield arrest, and was released on a promise to appear for the Darien charges.  Mills is scheduled to appear in court in Bridgeport on April 5 for the Fairfield charges, and in Stamford Superior Court on April 6 for the Darien charges.

Ogrinc said Greenwich police have obtained an arrest warrant for Mills, as well.

According to police there is not enough evidence to connect Mills with a series of at Waveny Park last fall.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

To request removal of your name from an arrest report, submit these required items to arrestreports@patch.com.