POLICE LOG: "Gang" Allegedly Chases Woman Out of Superior Court

The following is an excerpt from the  log. Please note that this is a sampling of activity in the log, not a complete account. We report all arrests included in the daily police log. 

Feb. 9 –

• At 10:21 a.m., police were dispatched to Dartmouth Street for a report of a possible scam on a 93-year-old resident. According to police, the elderly woman said a man came to her door and said he was there to fix the chimney. She believed the man to be from her oil company, so she let him in. After looking at her chimney, he said he needed $2,100 to do the repair work. The woman gave the man $60, which was all she had, and he left. According to police, at that point, the woman called her son, who is a detective in another state, and he alerted Woburn Police to the possible scam. Officer Mark Gibbons spoke to several neighbors of the woman who reported seeing a white van outside the woman’s house. Using the witness statements, Officer Gibbons searched the Internet on chimney repairs and found that a company in New York with a similar name to the one used by witnesses, had been accused of similar scams in the past.  
• At 1:01 p.m., police responded to a well-being check request for a Chestnut Street man. According to the caller, the man had not been at work or returned called for a few days. When the man did not answer his door, police requested assistance from Woburn Fire for a forced entry. When officials gained entry, they found the man asleep upstairs. There was some damage incurred to the doorjamb.
• At 3:13 p.m., a Reading woman was cited for failing to stop at a red light, after she went through a light, striking two cars going through the green light at Washington and Salem streets.
• At 3:25 p.m., police were dispatched to the for a report of a Brockton woman in fear of her safety. According to the woman, who was a plaintiff in a case that was going to trial, she was allegedly followed and chased by the defendant and his “gang.” The woman managed to call police from the safety of a good Samaritan’s car. According to police, no one could corroborate the woman’s accusation. The officer brought the woman to Woburn Police so she could secure a safe ride home.
• At 10:37 p.m., a 16-year-old Salem Street male was arrested and charged with assault with a dangerous weapon (blunt object) and threat to commit a crime. According to police, officers observed a clothes hamper and stereo speaker that could have been thrown during the altercation, as a witness stated. Police took a hunting knife into evidence after the arrest.