Crime & Safety

Tire Theft Leads to River Road Manhunt

The following information was supplied by Andover Police. Where arrests or charges are mentioned, it does not indicate a conviction.

What started out as a tire theft ended in a manhunt involving state police early Thursday morning.

At about 1 a.m. Thursday, a security employee at Smith Motor Sales on Bullfinch Drive called Andover Police and reported that two people were trying to steal tires off a vehicle behind the building.

Police went there and found the suspects' vehicle, with stolen tires inside. They then called in state police and a K-9 unit to assist was a search and notified employees at the Wyndham Hotel and LaQuinta Hotel to be on alert.

Police found the first suspect at 3 a.m. trying to leave the complex. Seferno Rodriguez, of 27 Hampshire St. Apt. 10, Salem N.H., was charged with unlicensed operation.

Then at 5:30 a.m., a man called 911 and reported that he had broken his leg in that area climbing a fence, and he was the second suspect. Herbert Velasquez, 41, of 98 Pemberton St. Apt. 25, of Dracut, was charged with receiving stolen property.


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