Man charged in theft of running car outside Glastonbury store

Alex Wood, Journal Inquirer, Manchester, Conn.
·2 min read
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Apr. 28—A man who has been repeatedly charged with larcenies in Connecticut and Pennsylvania is facing an accusation that he stole a car that was left unlocked and running outside a Glastonbury convenience store last year.

Mike J. Alexander, 33, who has also been known by the last name Alexander-Garcia and lists an address in the Willimantic section of Windham, is charged with third-degree larceny, sixth-degree larceny, and second-degree criminal trover in the car theft that occurred outside the Cumberland Farms store at 2875 Main St.

Criminal trover is defined as using someone else's property without permission and damaging it in the process.

Alexander is being held in lieu of $185,000 bond in the Glastonbury case and three others, records show.

The 2009 Hyundai Elantra, with an estimated value of $4,000, was reported stolen shortly before 11:30 a.m. March 24, 2022, according to an affidavit by Glastonbury police Sgt. Brandon Ritchie, who went on to report the following:

Surveillance video showed a stocky man look at the car as he left the store, then double back, get in the driver's seat, back out, and drive south on Main Street.

Hartford police license-plate readers tracked the car's movements as it drove between the city's North End and Broad Street in the South End between March 27 and 29, 2022.

Surveillance footage from a Hartford convenience store lot showed a man get out of the car and then back in. He appeared to be the same person who had stolen it in Glastonbury based on his nearly identical appearance and clothing, the sergeant reported.

The car was recovered in Waterbury on April 25, 2022, with parts of it spray painted black, a flat tire, a broken sideview mirror, and other damage inside and out. Its interior was littered with narcotics paraphernalia and other garbage, the sergeant said.

Alexander was charged with first-degree larceny in the theft of a Hyundai Tucson sport-utility vehicle stolen in Hartford and recovered in Waterbury on May 4, 2022.

His booking photograph in that case showed nearly identical facial features and other identifying characteristics to the man in the surveillance photos of the Glastonbury theft and the subsequent use of the stolen Elantra in Hartford, according to the sergeant.

The state Forensic Science Laboratory concluded that DNA mixtures found in swabs of the Elantra's steering wheel and on cigarette butts found in the car were at least 100 billion times more likely to have come from Alexander and two unknown contributors than from three unknown people, Ritchie reported.

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