Crime & Safety

Two From Belmont Arrested in Connection with Concord Mail Theft

North State Street store owner catches theft on video.

Sometimes it pays to have a camera outside your store.

That’s what Brian Blackden, the owner of the Pepper Defense Supply Store on North State Street, learned recently after a package was allegedly stolen from his mailbox.

On Sept. 17, Blackden’s store wasn’t open but he was working inside and happened to be looking up at the video feed of the camera outside the door of his store when he saw a woman with blonde hair get out of an SUV, walk over the store’s mailbox attached to the front door of the business, grab a box inside. The woman then walked back to the SUV and left the scene.

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“I saw them, yelled to my buddy who was here, ran out and got in the truck, and followed them and kept an eye on them,” he said.

Blackden followed the vehicle down North State Street to North Main Street while his friend called police.

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At the intersection of Main Street and Loudon Road, Blackden got out of his vehicle and walked over to the driver’s door of the SUV, which was in the left hand lane waiting to take a turn onto Loudon Road. Blackden demanded the package and at first, he said, the driver denied being at the store and denied stealing a package. When Blackden said he had video of the two of them, the woman allegedly reached into the back seat of the SUV and gave the driver the package to give to Blackden.

“They had opened it and everything,” he said.

When the light turned green and the two wanted to leave, Blackden said he stood in front of the truck to keep them from leaving the scene until police arrived.

Blackden, whose store was involved in the recent Road Dawgs vest theft incident that led to an indictment and later acquittal of a Hill Police officer and the suicide of a Bedford Police officer, said it was important to stand in the way of the criminals.

“I’m done getting stuff stolen from me, thank you very much,” he said.

The police showed up and the driver allegedly admitted to the officer that they were involved in the mail theft, according to Blackden, who handed over the package to the officer. However, instead of arresting the individuals, Blackden said police let them go.

Investigators did come back to his store to record his video evidence of the woman allegedly stealing the package and reportedly said they would be handing off the report and incident evidence to federal authorities since it was a stolen mail case.

A few weeks ago, two people from Belmont, Sonya Katherine Spooner, 34, and Travis W. Dickinson, 34, were arrested at 4:38 p.m. on Nov. 13, 2012, in relation to the case.

Spooner was charged with a theft by unauthorized taking or transfer charge, a felony. Dickinson was charged with criminal liability for conduct of another. Both were released on personal recognizance bail and arraigned in mid-December on the charges.

Spooner was previously arrested in 2009 by the Franklin Police Department on a reckless conduct charge and 2010 by Franklin Police on a warrant from the Tilton Police Department, according to press reports. Also in 2010, she pleaded no contest to violation and contempt of a protective order and was found guilty and fined $1,000, suspended, according to press reports.

A former police officer, Blackden said he was a bit surprised that Spooner and Dickinson weren’t arrested at the scene or given a summons since even the two officers involved in the vest incident were issued summonses.

Blackden alleged that earlier in September, Dickinson was in his store and seemed to be casing the place.

“It made my buddy so suspicious that he actually wrote down the description of the vehicle and the plate number,” he said. “That was a week prior to them coming and taking the package."

In the video, the SUV pulls up to the store, the woman walks over to the mailbox, grabs the package, and hops into the SUV, and leaves the scene.

In the package was a book on gun prices and values, worth about $50. Blackden said he found the theft and the Road Dawgs case frustrating.

“I’m not really sure what they were looking for,” Blackden said. “They thought we were closed. We’re closed on Mondays and Tuesdays but we’re often working in here. I was shocked when I looked up and saw them.


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