By Phil Demers, North Adams Transcript
ADAMS -- A 20-year-old town man pleaded not guilty in Northern Berkshire District Court on Tuesday to charges springing from an early morning spree of vehicle break-ins back in August.
Christopher W. Grandchamp, of Howland Avenue, was charged at the arraignment with 14 counts of breaking and entering into a vehicle at night for a felony and single counts of larceny under $250, larceny of a drug, and attempted breaking and entering into a building at night for a felony.
In court, Judge Michael J. Ripps continued the case until Dec. 3, when a pretrial hearing will take place.
Grandchamp’s charges stem from an investigation conducted by Adams Po lice Department Officer Curtis Crane that began on the morning of the re ported break-ins, Aug. 16.
That morning, Crane’s report read, he checked the surrounding area of Adams Ambulance Service at 185 Columbia St., after locating a vehicle there that’d been broken into at 1:24 a.m.
A wallet and prescription drugs were taken from the vehicle, owned by an employee of Adams Ambulance Services.
Crane’s investigation turned up 13 more victims of similar break-ins at Columbia and Friend streets on the night of Aug. 16. No items of value were reported missing by any of these vic tims. The vehicles were all unlocked.
One Friend Street victim’s vehicle, Crane observed, had its driver door open,
Crane noted speaking to Grand champ on Friend Street at 2:49 a.m. that night, whereupon he asked to see Grandchamp’s bicycle. Grandchamp agreed, but later disappeared around a building, the report said.
Two weeks of investigation into the break-ins followed, when officers spoke to witnesses who placed Grand champ in the area of the crimes and obtained video surveillance from Dunkin Do nuts at 177 Columbia St. -- abutting Adams Ambulance Service where the break-ins were first discovered -- that allegedly shows Grand champ there minutes before the crimes.
Grandchamp, at a voluntary interview with Adams Police Department on Aug. 29, reportedly admitted to the Columbia and Friend streets break-ins and the break-in at Adams Ambulance Service. He also admitted to attempting to force entry into Dunkin Donuts to steal money from the register, leading to the additional charge of attempted breaking and entering into a building at night.
According to Adams Police Depart ment Sgt. Richard Tarsa, these break-ins have not been found to be related to others reported in Adams back in July.
To reach Phil Demers, email
pdemers@thetranscript.com
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