Fitchburg man racks up 13 charges over seven days

LEOMINSTER » Over a period of seven days in early April, a Fitchburg man allegedly stole a car, robbed a Dunkin’, and broke into several cars, according to police and court documents.

The first of the incidents occurred on April 23 when two employees of Commerce Bank on

Main Street called police to report their cars had been broken into. Surveillance video recordings were pulled to try and identify a suspect, which didn’t happen until six days later when Antwain R. Austin, 19, of Lunenburg Street was seen breaking into a car at Quality Towing & Recovery, police said.

Three days later, at 2 a.m. April 26, a driver on Route 2 reported to police that a gray Honda was traveling westbound with a blown-out tire and driving on the rim and damaging the asphalt,

police said.

As state troopers were responding, they learned a gray Honda, with the same license plate reported by the witness on Route 2, had broken down right in front of the Leominster State Police Barracks, police said.

When they arrived, they found the heavily damaged Honda and Austin, police said.

The troopers learned the Honda had been reported stolen from a shopping center in Dorchester the day before, police said.

When one of the troopers asked Austin where he had gotten the Honda, he admitted he had stolen it, and as a result was arrested, police said.

Court and police documents don’t indicate if Austin was released after his arrest, but later that day he robbed the

Dunkin’ on Main Street in Leominster.

One of the store’s employees told police that while she was working at a food station inside, she saw Austin pry open the drive-thru window, take the tip jar and then punch a two-drink order into the register to open its drawer and pull out a $10 bill.

After Austin left, he dropped the tip jar behind the store and went to Speedway at Main Street and purchased a frozen drink and a couple of lighters, police said.

And then on April 29, Austin was seen attempting to break into a car at Quality Towing & Recovery, which was when police determined he was also the suspect in the April 23 break-in at Commerce Bank.

Austin was arraigned April 27 for the Dunkin’ robbery and released on personal recognizance, according to court documents.

It was after that arraignment that the additional charges were filed.

The charges stemming from the four incidents are: four counts of felony breaking and entering, unarmed robbery, two counts of larceny under $1,200, breaking into a depository, receiving a stolen vehicle, malicious damage to a motor vehicle, unlicensed operation, negligent operation and a marked lanes violation, according to court documents.

When arraigned on those charges, he was ordered held in lieu of a $1,000 cash bail or $10,000 surety bond, however, he was ordered held for breaking the terms of his release on the Dunkin’ robbery.

He remains in custody at the Worcester County House of Correction, according to a spokesperson with the Worcester County Sheriff ’s Office.

Austin was in district court on Friday for a pretrial hearing on the charges. During the hearing, Austin was ordered to return to court on Nov. 5.

Fitchburg man arraigned for alleged camera smash

FITCHBURG » On two occasions in May, a city man was seen destroying three surveillance cameras and the motion-sensor light at an apartment complex on Waverly Street, according to police and court documents.

Police summonsed Prince Addo, 39, formerly of Waverly Street, to court for two counts of vandalizing property for the two incidents, police said.

The first incident occurred May 17, when the owner of the apartment complex reported to police that Addo was recorded on surveillance video ripping the two cameras off the building.

On May 30, a resident of the complex called police to report that he saw Addo smash a surveillance video camera and a motion-sensor light with a hammer.

When police spoke with Addo, he denied damaging the cameras, police said.

Police reported that Addo was evicted from the apartment complex in June.

Despite that, he was summonsed to court on the charges and arraigned last Thursday and released on personal recognizance, according to court documents.

He will return to court on Dec. 14 for a pretrial hearing.