By Crystal
Bozek
Staff Writer
July 27, 2008 05:40 am
METHUEN — You'd think the police station would be the last place where
someone would commit a crime.
But in a brazen move, someone stole the city's animal control van right out of the Police Department's front parking lot on Hampshire Street yesterday morning.
"Yeah, it's a weird one," Methuen police Lt. Jim Jajuga said. "It was taken right out of the lot in the daytime."
Jajuga said the van, a 1995 blue GMC model, was stolen sometime between 8:30 a.m. and noon yesterday.
While it might have been an easy getaway — the station is right off Route 28 and next to the highway — it will be hard not to draw attention. The van has an "animal control" decal on its side.
The city's conservation agent first noticed that the van was missing when he came by the police station. He parks his conservation vehicle next to it.
Police then contacted the animal control officer, who said she had parked the vehicle by the station Friday afternoon. And workers saw the van parked there early yesterday morning. Police and visitors frequently drive through the parking lot, but nobody observed any suspicious activity.
Police put out a BOLO — be on the lookout — for the van and phoned other law enforcement agencies. They are also checking to see if any surveillance cameras might have picked up footage of the theft.
"We are still investigating," Jajuga said.
In addition to the van itself, the vehicle contained equipment used by the animal control officer.
This is Methuen's second animal-related theft in three days. On Thursday afternoon, a 3-month-old pit bull named Angie was stolen from the MSPCA Shelter at Nevins Farm. The farm, located on Route 28, is only about a quarter mile from the police station.