On Wednesday, November 9, 2022, at 12:43 P.M., XXXX, an employee of XXX called Somerville Police Control to report that he had learned from a business associate that someone was trying to sell a stolen automatic scrubber that belonged to his company.

The reporting party (RP) told the call-taker that the person in possession of the stolen property was driving a white Chevy Van with Massachusetts commercial license plate XXXX. The RP added that he was coming from Worcester to that Somerville and was 20 minutes away.

I called the RP, and he told me he was employed by XXX, a provider of cleaning and maintenance services, and one of their automatic scrubbers worth at least $10,000 was stolen from Hannaford’s in Leominster, Massachusetts. The RP stated that a police report was filed with Leominster P.D. According to the RP, one of his co-worers received information from a man identified as XXXX that while in Somerville, a man wanted to sell him an automatic scrubber and noticed a blue/white sticker on the machine with a barcode and the words: “Property of XXXX.”

When I arrived at 192 Broadway, I saw a white Chevy Van outside the building with Massachusetts license plate XXXX and a man seated in the driver’s seat. I contacted Detective Legros and asked him to respond to the area of Broadway. Detective Legros informed that the van was traveling East on Broadway. I followed the van, activated my emergency equipment, and stopped it at the intersection of Broadway and Mt. Vernon Street.

I approached the operator and identified him as Alexsandro RIBEIRO (Defendant). I asked the defendant to step out of the vehicle and informed him of the reason for the stop. The defendant stated to me that he came to Somerville to get lunch. I asked the defendant where he lives and he replied Leominster. I asked him what he does for work and he replied “I work for a cleaning company”. I then asked the defendant what he had in the back of the van, and he replied cleaning equipment and opened the back door to the van. In the back of the van, I noticed a large scrubber with other cleaning supplies and accessories.

At this time, XXXX came up to me and said he had met the defendant on Broadway and had gotten in touch with one of their staff members after noticing the XXX sticker on the machine. I reached out to the RP and asked him to meet me at Broadway and Mount Vernon Street. When the RP arrived on the scene, he recognized the scrubber as being one of the stolen items. I asked the RP, how certain are you? and he responded “100 percent”.

I contacted the owner of the white Chevy van, a cleaning company and spoke with XXXX. She stated Leominster P.D contacted her and asked if her van was equipped with a GPS unit. XXXX told me that she checked and found the van was at Hannaford’s in Leominster when the theft took place.

Based on the witness and RP’s statement and my observations, I placed the defendant under arrest for receiving stolen property over $1200 and an outstanding warrant from Dedham District Court for larceny over $250 by false pretense. Officer Pavao advised the defendant of the charges in Portuguese. I requested a tow and the van was towed to the station where the scrubber was placed in the garage for safekeeping and the van was towed to Pats tow yard in Medford.

Respectfully,

Officer Samir Messaoudi #312
Somerville Police Dept.