The following are excerpts from the Belmont Police log as made available by the Belmont Police Department. The log is public and available for review. All persons are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law.
Monday, Sept. 21
10:57 a.m.: Star Market’s corporate office reported that at 5 a.m. on Sept. 20, a male called the store from the number, 804-463-6848, claiming to be the president of a company and that Osha was coming at 9 a.m. on Sept. 21 to conduct a safety inspection of the Star Market on Trapelo Road in Belmont. The male asked that the serial numbers on all the fire extinguishers in the building be cataloged and texted to him. The information was provided. He then called back claiming he was someone else and that the store manager did not pay past due bills and was requesting money be sent from the safe. The employee terminated the call and contacted the store manager and the corporate office. Both confirmed the call was a fraud.
7:36 p.m.: A Belmont resident reported a trash barrel on fire behind a property. The fire spread across the grass. Belmont Fire responded. It was determined the fire was coming from underneath a metal shed on the property. Belmont Fire was able to put out the remainder of the fire in the shed. A neighbor said they smelled a fire earlier in the evening, at 6 p.m. and thought someone was having a bonfire. When he noticed the trash and recycling bins were on fire, he immediately went to notify the resident of the home and 911 was called. The resident said there was no one in the backyard this afternoon or evening. There were flammable items inside the shed. The total value of the property inside the shed, which includes power tools, folding tables, chairs and party supplies, is approximately $2,000. A blue lighter was found on the ground near the trash and recycling barrel and was given to the fire captain to place into flammable evidence storage. The resident said the lighter did not belong to her.
Tuesday, Sept. 22
11:35 a.m.: Check fraud was reported by a Belmont business owner. The check was mailed in a mailbox on Leonard Street. The amount was changed from $27.97, payable to the Town of Arlington to $5,877, payable to Taneja E. Goodwin. She contacted her bank.
11:44 a.m.: A motor vehicle accident on Pleasant Street at Clifton Street. One vehicle was struck on the passenger side without warning. Airbags deployed on the passenger side. The vehicle that was struck did not have a current inspection sticker and the driver’s license was suspended. The vehicle was towed from the scene. A citation was issued for unlicensed operation, failure to yield and failure to wear a seatbelt. The operator of the other vehicle said he was cut off without warning when attempting to make a left turn.
Wednesday, Sept. 23
12:52 p.m.: A Belmont resident reported someone attempted to take out $20,000 cash from her bank account. She was contacted by Apple about a charge on her account. She spoke to someone who she believed was a scammer. She then talked to someone who claimed to be from the government and wanted to help her keep her money safe. She advised her to go to the bank and withdraw $20,00 cash and that someone would come and pick up the money to keep it safe for her. She went to the bank to take out the money and was told by the teller she didn’t have enough money in her account and they wouldn't be able to get that amount in cash today even if she had it. She had the scammer on the phone when she went into the bank. She told the scammer she couldn’t get the money and hasn’t heard from her since. She was concerned that someone scammed her again as she had something similar happen to her in May and had to cancel her account. The police contacted her bank who informed her that the woman came into the bank on the phone requesting $20,000 in chase. They told her they would be unable to get that kind of cash for her that day and she said to hold on and went out into the vestibule on the phone. Earlier this week she had two checks clear from an old account that had fraud back in May. One check was for $5,000 and was returned due to lack of funds. The other check was for $2,500 and it cleared but also will most likely be returned because the account has no money in it. The checks were supposed to be cancelled. The new account does not appear to have been touched at this time. The woman’s nephew will talk to the bank to straighten out why the old account was never canceled and make sure the new one is protected.
Friday, Sept. 25
7:06 p.m.: Illegal dumping reported. A resident reported finding four large trash bags full of construction and landscaping waste on his front lawn. There are no construction or landscaping projects on his street at this time.
Saturday, Sept. 26
9:30 a.m.: A town tree limb fell on a home on Clark Street. The home owner was home with her daughter at the time of the incident. She heard a loud crash at 8:50 a.m. and felt the house shake.. The tree also fell on her car. The extent of the damage to the home and vehicle is unknown at this time. Public Works rescinded to assess the tree work.
Sunday, Sept. 27
7:16 a.m.: Officers responded to a vehicle that got stuck in a sink hole at the intersection of Holden Road and Slade Street. The operator was still inside the vehicle. It was raining and there was also a water main break in the area. Belmont Fire arrived on the scene and assisted the driver out of the vehicle through the front passenger side door. The front driver side of the vehicle was partially in the sink hole with the rear of the vehicle off the ground The driver said he was driving straight on Slade Street toward Holden Road when what he thought was a puddle turned into a sink hole, causing his vehicle to get stuck in it. Waltham Auto took possession of the vehicle.
Monday, Sept. 28
11:10 a.m.: A Belmont resident said that on July 21, she had several fraudulent withdrawals from her checking account that she shares with her husband. Over the past few months she has had contractors working at her home and has been making frequent payments for work being done, which is how the transitions went undetected for some time. She informed her bank and they blocked the account and transferred the funds to a different account. There were five transactions totaling $10,134.90. The bank has not issued a refund or credit for the lost funds as the investigation is ongoing. She has been monitoring her accounts and credit frequently and has found no abnormalities.
12:18 p.m.: Theft of a package was reported by a Pine Street resident. It contained a 13-inch Apple Open Box Ipad. It was delivered on Sept. 24 at 3:33 p.m. by FedEx. When he arrived home two hours later it was gone. He has spoken with Best Buy to see if they could get the Ipad replaced or have his credit card refunded. Best Buy said they needed a police report. He checked with his neighbors to see if they had security camera footage but was unsuccessful.
2:53 p.m.: A Belmont resident said he recently came into possession of a phony $100 bill. He attempted to withdraw $1,000 from a bank to deposit it into another bank. He attempted to deposit the cash via an ATM several times and one single $100 got rejected from the deposit. He went inside and attempted to deposit the bill with a bank employee. Once again, the money was rejected. Shortly after, the bil was tested and determined to be counterfeit. He is working with the bank to resolve the issue.
Tuesday, Sept. 29
3:06 p.m.: A Belmont resident said she contacted a chimney company to request a quote for a Level 2 chimney inspection of her home. The website states that the company is licensed and uses marked vehicles, and no sub-contrators. Its address is on Leonard Street. At 11:20 a.m. on Sept. 28, a man arrived at her home in an unmarked dark pick-up truck with no company identification. The man told her she did not need the inspection and sold her a chimney sweep instead. She paid $467.50 by Visa. The invoice came from a different business with only a gmail address and no full name. When she called the company, they admitted they sent a sub-contractor. She asked for their license and registration and has not received them yet. She visited the Leonard Street address and it is occupied by a clothing business. There is no chimney company located in Belmont Center. Google removed the company’s maps listing on Leonard Street after she reported it. The same brand of the chimney company operates near-identical websites for Cambridge, Monroe, CT, Bristol, CT and Brooklyn, NY, each with a different phone number. She filed complaints with the Massachusetts Attorney General and CSIA. She will also dispute the charge with Visa. She is unsure if her fireplace is usable after the sweep. She believes someone created the website and storefront using AI and scammed her for business. She sent videos of the male that arrived at her home and said she was pressured into purchasing a chimney sweep over an inspection. The company name was Steves Brothers Chimney. Videos of the man from the front door Ring camera are on a USB drive and logged into evidence. She requested extra checks on her house because she fears the sub-contractor may come back asking for money.
Friday, Oct. 2
1:36 p.m.: A Fairview Avenue resident reported a stolen package. It contained a Kodak Luma portable mini projector and a package of gloves. She received an email confirming the delivery on Sept. 19 at 3:28 p.m. along with a photo of it on the porch. She was not home at the time. When she arrived home between 7 and 8 p.m., the package was not there. The value of the package was $265.34. She contacted Amazon who said no one reported seeing the package or any suspicious individuals. There were no cameras pointing to that area of the porch in the area.
6:33 p.m.: A Thomas Street resident reported the theft of three iPhones from T-Mobile sent to his residence. The package required a signature. He was unable to be home at the time of delivery, so he rerouted the package to be delivered at CVS on Leonard Street. He received a notification it was delivered by UPS at 1:37 p.m. to CVS Then, at 2:48 p.m., he received another notification that the Iphones were picked up by a customer, but he did not pick them up and did not authorize anyone else to pick them up. The manager at CVS advised him that a man came in and showed an ID and picked up the package, which contained two Iphone 17s and one Iphone 17 Pro, valued at approximately $2,960. CVS showed the police the surveillance footage from the incident, which was downloaded and placed into evidence. Still images of the suspect and his interaction with the manager and two other employees were also saved. The male was wearing a tan/brown baseball hat, light gray zip-up Nike sweatshirt, dark shorts, black sneakers with white soles. He showed the employee a document on his phone and provided an identification to her. He advised her he was picking up Ipones. She found the package and referred him to another employee. The other employee looked at the suspect’s identification and with assistance from the manager, located the package and provided it to him, verifying that the identification matched the victim’s name. The male suspect did not speak English well, so it was difficult to understand him.
Saturday, Oct. 3
10:14 a.m.: A Belmont resident reported that on Sept. 30, he received an email that appeared to be from Apple, from Applesupporteam@usa.com, which said he was a victim of a security issue and multiple accounts were created with his information. It provided case numbers and a phone number to call. He called the number and spoke with someone named Tom. Tom explained he wanted him to liquidate all his accounts so they could put them all together into a secure account while the fraudulent issues were dealt with. On Oct. 1, he went to his bank and requested to get a large amount of cash. They refused him and wouldn’t let him take out that much money. He then went to another bank and withdrew $25,000 and $15,000 in cash. On Oct. 2, he withdrew $32,000 from another bank in cash. When the bank asked what he needed the money for he told them he was buying a truck. Once he had the cash, he was told someone would meet him to take the cash to deposit. On Oct. 2, he pulled up in front of CVS on Trapelo Road to meet someone. He was sitting in the car with the windows down when a latino who appeared to be in his 30s walked up to the car and stuck his head in the window. He asked to see an identification and the male grabbed the box on the seat with the cash and ran off. At that time, he realized something was wrong. He informed the police where the vehicle was parked. The police checked to see if there are any outside cameras in the area. CVS provided the building owner’s number to the police. Officers attempted to call and were unable to leave a voicemail. The Belmont Fire Department across the street will check to see if the camera picture reaches to that side of the street. Attempts were made to contact other neighboring businesses and were also asked to check their camera footage, but officers were unable to get anyone on the phone.
Monday, Oct. 5
8:29 a.m.: Officers responded to a motor vehicle crash with injuries at the intersection of Belmont Street and Lewis Road. Belmont Fire also responded. Two vehicles had heavy front-end damage. One was on the front lawn of a home on Lewis Road. The front passenger was still inside one of the vehicles and conscious and alert. She was freed when Waltham tow arrived. The operator of the vehicle said he was attempting to make a left turn onto Lewis Road at the request of his wife. He slowed down due to a vehicle in front of him that stopped to allow another vehicle to turn left from Belmont Street onto School Street. When he attempted to turn left onto Lewis Road from Belmont Street he did not see the other vehicle approaching and was unable to avoid the collision. The driver was transported to the hospital for further evaluation and treatment due to a head injury. Both victims were wearing seatbelts. The operator of the other vehicle said he attempted to avoid the collision but due to his view being temporarily obstructed by the vehicle in front of him turning left, he was not prepared for the other vehicle driving in front of him. He complained of right knee and thumb pain from the steering wheel airbag that deployed. A witness who pulled over to assist said the vehicle that turned left onto Lewis Road failed to yield to the other vehicle, causing the crash. A citation was issued to the operator of the first vehicle for marked lanes violation and failure to yield to oncoming traffic.
11:34 a.m.: A woman believes she was scammed by someone posing as an X-Finity employee. She provided her social security number to him after receiving an email on her phone that appeared to be from X-Finity. She called the number in the email 800-934-6489 and spoke with a male who had a heavy accent. He requested her social security number. She hung up knowing she’s never had to give that information. She said they also asked for her credit card and bank account information. Shortly after, she received a phone call from someone claiming to work for X-Finity who said they would send her a text with a link in order for her to agree to a new Wi-Fi plan. She opened the link and agreed to the plan and when they asked for her social security number, she provided it to them. She was told she would receive a confirmation text, but it never came. She was advised to contact the Social Security Administration and notify her banks and Experian.
11:36 a.m.: A Belmont resident reported receiving a phone call from 1-743-643-9351. She answered and it was the United States Life and Health Insurance Company stating there was a lapse in her policy. The person on the phone read her email to her, which she confirmed and then emailed her a link, usba-secure.org that led her to a webpage to get the process started to renew the life insurance. The web page requested her to insert her social security number which she did. The person over the phone gave her her old address, which is why she thought it was a real call. She gave the person her updated address and then the person requested her bank account number and routing number. At this point she knew it was not the life insurance company she had policies with. She did not give the caller her banking information and the person became pushy and agitated. The person said they would continue to call back until she gave her banking information. She was advised to stay updated with her credit and to be sure no accounts were opened in her name and to call the Social security Administration fraud Prevention and Reporting hotline for next steps.
Tuesday, Oct. 6
11:09 a.m.: A Belmont man said this morning at 10:30 a.m., he walked out his front door and saw a male standing at the base of his steps. He did not recognize the man and asked him if he could help with anything. The male pointed to a car in his driveway and asked if it was his car. He asked if he could help him with anything and he repeated the question about the car. He got a weird feeling and told the man if there was nothing he needed, then he should leave. The man asked if he could whistle and he said, can you? The male then started whistling. He then told him it’s time you left and the male started walking down Sycamore Street and turned up Lexington Street. He followed him for a block or two before coming in to report the incident. He felt very uncomfortable and felt like the man was angry and confrontational on purpose. He was able to take a photo and provided it to the police. He will call if he sees him again.
12:15 p.m.: A Belmont woman reported someone stole her identity and took her American Airline miles. On Sept. 9, when she attempted to book a trip, she discovered that on March 25, 2026, someone converted 312,420 of her American Airline miles into cash totaling $3,124.20. She reached out to American Airlines who informed her miles were transformed into gift cards at Macy’s and Sephora. American Airlines froze her account and requested she file a police report. Once it’s filed, the mies will be returned to her account.
2:20 p.m.: A Stop sign at the intersection of Chilton Street and Monroe Street was spray-painted blue and pink on both sides. The paint completely covered the sign and none of the letters were visible. Public Works will replace it with a temporary sign for safety. The sign was valued at $100.
Wednesday, Oct. 8
11:45 p.m.: Belmont residents reported someone stole their bank account information. On Oct. 20, 2025, she received a charge to her account in the amount of $217. She contacted her bank and was told it as a mistake and the situation would be monitored. On Oct. 7, 2026, she realized there had been several more charges to their account in the amounts of $25, $106.25 and $1,000. All the charges were made under an unknown person by the name of Jania Honeycutt. The Bank reimbursed them for three of the four charges and the $1,000 charge is currently pending.
4:04 p.m.: A Belmont resident reported a package stolen. She used to reside at another address and recently moved. The package was sent to her previous address. It continued meal preparation and was valued at $141. She requested her neighbor on the previous street where she lived to retrieve the package and hold it for her. He messaged her that there was no package on her front steps or inside the front vestibule. She knew it was delivered because the company sent her a photo. She left the home on bad terms with her landlord and downstairs neighbor. She believes the downstairs neighbor may have taken the package and thrown it out because it was trash the previous day. She asked him if he saw the package and he said he did not. She was fully refunded by the meal preparation company.
Saturday, Oct. 10
1:55 A.M: A patrol officer observed a vehicle parked on Munroe Street with its driver’s side door open. A female was sitting in the driver’s seat and appeared to be asleep with the vehicle running. The officer made several attempts to get her attention to ask if she was alright and she said she was fine. She did not have her driver’s silence but provided her name, date of birth and address. Officers learned her license was suspended. She said she was unaware her license was suspended. She said she was coming from a friend's house. She was at the Topsfield Fair and had a few drinks. The officer could not smell alcohol on her breath but there was an odor of mirjuana emanating from the vehicle. The front passenger tire was flat. She said she hit a curb. She said the vehicle belongs to her boyfriend. Officers learned the vehicle’s registration was revoked. Waltham Auto was called to tow the vehicle. The officer instructed the woman to contact a friend, family member or Uber to pick her up. The woman became increasingly belligerent, yelling profanities at the officers. Waltham Auto arrived on the scene. The license plates were seized. The vehicle was retrieved. Officers asked her to arrange for a ride to her next destination. She began yelling homophobic and racial slurs at the officers and said she did not want them to wait with her until her ride arrived. In an attempt to respect her wishes and de-escalate the increasingly hostile and belligerent situation, officers cleared the scene. As they cleared, she continued to hurl homophobic and racial slurs and profanities at officers. Approximately 10 minutes later, Belmont Communications received a call from 911 from a female, later confirmed to be her, stating she was standing in the middle of the roadway and needed help. Officers made their way back and observed her standing in the middle of the roadway, yelling profanities at the officers. She said she was upset they left before her ride arrived and that she had mental health issues. Officers asked if she wanted to be transported to the hospital and she said, “Hell no.” The Uber arrived and transported to her next destination. She will be summoned for operating with a suspended license, uninsured motor vehicle, and her boyfriend will be summoned for uninsured motor vehicle and unregistered motor vehicle.
2:41 P.M.: A vehicle ran over someone’s foot at Star Market on Trapelo Road. The woman said she walked out of the store at the Trapelo Road entrance and was crossing the street to the parking lot area and didn’t see the car pulling in. She was right next to the vehicle when it started to turn and ran over her left food. It was sore and she did not want to go to the hospital. She was evaluated by Belmont Fire and signed a refusal. She was advised to go to call back if the pain got worse. The driver said she was headed into the parking lot from Trapelo Road when the woman suddenly was at her driver’s side. She never saw her and didn’t even know she ran over her foot.
Belmont Police responded to nine mental health and three domestic calls Sept. 21 to Oct. 12, 2026.