In a potential break in the case, police arrested as 21-year old woman for allegedly vandalizing 3 meters with a screwdriver.
Seventy-six Springfield parking meters have been broken in the downtown area over the past five days, according to police.SPRINGFIELD — Someone is whacking the city’s parking meters.
Wielding a baseball bat or sledgehammer, two suspected assailants have inflicted $45,000 in damages during a five-day meter-battering binge downtown, according to police and the city’s Parking Authority.
By Wednesday night, 76 meters had been broken open on Worthington, Bridge, Bliss and Lyman streets.
For their efforts, the culprits netted $1,200 in coins, city officials said.
“You have to ask: Is it worth it?,” said Ehsanul H. Bhuiya, interim parking manager at the Springfield Parking Authority.
Not only do the thieves risk being caught by police, security patrols or on downtown video cameras, but breaking into a parking meter is a labor-intensive crime, Bhuiya said
“They’re not just taking a single swing. These meters are being pounded and pounded,” he added.
The meter assaults began Saturday night, with 15 roughed up and robbed on Worthington, Bridge, Harrison and Lyman streets; by Monday night, police and Parking Authority patrols were on the lookout for the suspected meter beaters, who were reaping about $10 in coins for each meter, Bhuiya said.
By Tuesday, investigators had their first clue – a downtown video camera caught an image of a young man carrying a baseball bat, followed by a woman wearing a large backpack, Bhuiya said.
The suspects chose their targets wisely: only the older, battery-operated meters were attacked, not the new, digital models installed in the past few years on Main Street.
“Nobody could break into the new meters,” Bhuiya said.
In a potential break in the case, police arrested as 21-year old woman Wednesday night for allegedly vandalizing three meters with a screwdriver. A second suspect, a male in his 20s, escaped.
Kimberly LenoisKimberly Lenois, of Blaine Street, Springfield, was charged with breaking into a depository, malicious damage over $250, larceny under $250 and possession of burglarious tools. She pleaded not guilty Thursday in Springfield District Court.
Assistant District Attorney Marie Angers told the court that the three meters were a small fraction of the 60-plus roughed up and robbed in the past few days.
That number was lower than the 76 damaged meters reported by the Parking Authority, but still took Judge Robert A. Gordon by surprise.
“60 meters?,” he asked, sounding incredulous.
Defense lawyer Steven A. Nison said his client was only accused of damaging three meters, not 60.
Lenois, a former Windsor, Conn., resident, has no criminal record and had no money on her at the time of her arrest, Nison said.
Gordon ordered her released on personal recognizance, and told her to return on Aug. 29 for a pre-trial conference.