Branford Police Charge 2 Women Overnight In Car Thefts

BRANFORD, CT - Overnight Thursday Branford Police located two stolen vehicles and arrested two, in separate incidents. A third stolen vehicle got away, police said.

According to Branford police, at around 1:30 a.m., officers saw an Acura MDX, reported stolen out of Hamden, at the Branford Motel on East Main Street. The driver, Ariana Giselle Robles, 19, of New Haven was taken into custody just after parking the vehicle. Robles was with a person at the motel in violation of two protective orders, police said. She was charged with third-degree larceny, two counts of criminal violation of a protective order, and possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia.

Then, at around 1:40 a.m., “alert residents” called police after seeing vehicles being broken into around the Fern Lane and Eastwood Drive area.

Officers found a “suspect vehicle and a recently stolen vehicle” driving away. They tried to stop the vehicles but they took off and police chased the cars but then “terminated the pursuit.”

At 2:15 a.m., police patrolling West Main Street saw a Toyota Rav 4 stolen from Nassau County, NY, parked behind a closed business. The driver, Christine Lefebvreskelly, 30, of Freeport, NY was inside the car. She was arrested and charged with second-degree larceny, police said.

Both women were taken to New Haven Superior Court Thursday morning for arraignment.

In its Facebook post about the incident, police wrote: “While our Officers are working diligently on a daily basis to address the statewide problem of vehicle theft, we again remind the public to remove keys and key fobs from their vehicles and to lock their vehicles. Most vehicle thefts we are experiencing are a result of keys being left in the vehicle.”