Acting on Informant's Tip, Police Arrest Three in Connection
with String of Crimes

By CHRIS BURRELL

Oak Bluffs police say they cracked two cases in one day this week
when they arrested three Oak Bluffs teenagers Wednesday in connection
with the break-in at Tony's Market and then learned these were the
same teens who opened up fire hydrants on East Chop almost two weeks
ago.

Police have charged Edward Jay McCarthy, 18, and two juveniles, ages
15 and 16, with a slew of felonies, including breaking and entering in
the nighttime, larceny of a motor vehicle and receiving stolen property.

Mr. McCarthy was arraigned yesterday in Edgartown District Court and
released on $1,000 bail, pending a pretrial hearing Monday. The two
juveniles, both male, will face charges in juvenile court in Falmouth,
police said.

Oak Bluffs police Sgt. Timothy Williamson said police received a tip
from an informant motivated by the $1,000 reward offered by Tony's
Market. Police obtained a search warrant for Mr. McCarthy's
residence on David avenue.

Inside a makeshift shack on that property, Sergeant Williamson said,
"We found evidence they had broken into Tony's."

Police were unable to recover any of the $5,700 in cash and checks
stolen, but they were led to David Richardson's 1996 Ford Ranger
pick-up truck, which the teenagers allegedly stole and then dumped on
East Chop. Mr. Richardson is the owner of Tony's.

The teenagers told police they spent all the money, and in the
course of interrogations, they also confessed to acts of vandalism
around town, including the fire hydrant incident which drained 1.2
million gallons of water and left the town unable to fight a fire over a
half-day period.

Police have also linked the three to a break-in last February at
deBettencourt's garage on New York avenue and a vandalism incident
last month at the Island Transport bus depot on School street.

But it was the Tony's Market incident that spurred the police
investigation and the tip that led police to the suspects. The store on
Dukes County avenue was broken into last week on a Tuesday night. Stolen
from the market were cash, checks, and more the $2,000 worth of
merchandise: cigarettes, cigars, rolling papers and alcoholic beverages,
according to police.

Sergeant Williamson said the teenagers were likely emboldened by the
break-in at deBettencourt's Texaco because they didn't get
caught after stealing more than $200 worth of cigarettes and other
goods.

The fire hydrant incident from earlier last month represented not
just a loss of water, valued at more than $1,700, but also damaged a
road, police said in a press release. Police are still trying to
determine the value of other vandalism they believe the teens committed,
including spray-painting cars and slashing car tires.

Sergeant Williamson credited the informant who stepped forward to
help police and thanked state police Sgt. Jeff Stone for helping with
the investigation. Sergeant Williamson said the Oak Bluffs Water
District commissioners are considering whether they should give the
informant some of the $2,500 reward they were offering for information
leading to the people who opened the hydrants.