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Robert Mebane, Jr., 28, of Stratford, was arrested around 3:30 a.m., Monday, Dec. 16, after Westport Police received a call from an alarm monitoring service for Honda of Westport, that a suspicious person could be seen on the surveillance video camera footage of the business, said Westport Police Lt. Anthony Prezioso.
The person on the video appeared to be a man, dressed in all black clothing, wearing a black ski mask, gloves and carrying a backpack, Prezioso said.
In the recent past, the business has been the victim of numerous thefts of tires and rims, all of which occurred in the early morning/overnight hours.
Officers immediately responded to the area and located Mebane who seemed to be trying to hide from the police.
When officers approached him, Mebane engaged in a brief physical struggle with one of the officers and then fled on foot.
With the assistance of the Fairfield Police Department, officers set up a perimeter and Mebane reappeared on the roof of the business.
Refusing to comply with officer commands, he scaled down from the roof and continued to flee from officers by running on the rooftops of vehicles parked in the lot of the dealership, causing damage to several of them.
He then jumped off the vehicles and continued to run from the officers.
After an additional struggle, and with the assistance of a service dog, Mebane was taken into custody.
The backpack Mebane had been seen carrying was recovered on the scene. There were several tools commonly associated with the commission of tire and rim thefts as well as a flashlight in the backpack, police said.
Also located nearby was a vehicle apparently belonging to Mebane that contained a vehicle jack and bricks commonly used to support vehicles after removing their tires and rims.
Following his arrest, Mebane was charged with 13 counts of criminal mischief, interfering with an officer/resisting arrest, criminal trespass. possession of burglary tools and criminal attempt at larceny.
Bond was set at $20,000 which Mebane was unable to post.
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