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Intoxicated Stamford Man Found In Passenger Seat Of Stranger's Vehicle In Darien, Police Say

A Fairfield County man wanted by police for stealing a vehicle in 2015 was found five years later after napping in a stranger's unlocked vehicle, according to Darien police. 

Joel Mackinnon

Joel Mackinnon

Photo Credit: Darien Police Department

A 911 caller told police that responded to his home just before 6 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 30that he had discovered a sleeping stranger in the driver's side of the vehicle, which reportedly had a broken door that would not lock, and yelled at him to leave. He also told police that between $8 and $10 in loose change was missing from the vehicle.

Police said they found a man matching the caller's description shortly afterward at the Noroton Heights Train Station. 

The man, 54-year-old Joel Mackinnon, of Stamford, admitted to breaking into the car, telling officers that he was intoxicated and needed a place to sleep, police said. 

A quantity of loose change was also found on his person, but Mackinnon denied that he had stolen it from the vehicle. Police discovered that Mackinnon was wanted on a bench warrant from an arrest that they had carried out in 2015, when he stole a vehicle in 2015.

Mackinnon was charged with the felony of third-degree burglary and the misdemeanors of sixth-degree larceny and violation of probation. He was jailed in lieu of $7,500.

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