BILLERICA, Mass. — Police have arrested two Lowell men, are searching for a third man, and will charge a fourth man in court for stealing a safe from a local VFW Post.
Christopher John Silva, 53, and San Sin, 47, are each charged with conspiracy, larceny over $1,200, larceny from building, and breaking into depository, Billerica Police Chief Roy Frost said in a statement on Thursday. Silva faces an additional charge of breaking and entering nighttime, felony.
Police have issued a warrant for the arrest of a third man, Peter George Poulakos, 32, also of Lowell, Frost said.
A fourth suspect, a 49-year-old Lowell man, will be summonsed to court at a later date to face charges in connection with the theft.
Police arrested Silva and Sin on Wednesday at a house on Wright Street where both men live in Lowell, prosecutors said Thursday.
The men were arrested after Billerica Police and officers from the Northeastern Massachusetts Law Enforcement Council, or NEMLEC, executed a search warrant at the home.
Inside the home, police found cash and evidence related to the break-in and theft of the safe, Frost said.
Silva and Sin were arraigned on Thursday in Lowell District Court. Both men have “significant” criminal histories, prosecutors said.
Silva was held on $3,500 cash bail on conditions including that he stay away from the VFW Post. Sin was held on $2,500 cash bail on conditions including that he also stay away from the VFW Post.
Prosecutors had asked for $7,500 cash bail and the condition that the men stay away from each other, but a judge lifted that condition because Silva and Sin live together.
Around 8 a.m. Monday, police were called to the Solomon VFW Post at 12 Phiney St. for a report of a break-in and stolen safe.
A janitor who went into the building that morning noticed the safe was missing, Frost said. The bartender said the safe was still inside the location when they left the previous night.
Evidence at the scene and surveillance video led investigators to a identify a pickup truck that was used to steal the safe away from the VFW, Frost said.
Prosecutors said that cobalt wire cutters were used at the scene and that windows to the VFW Post were pried open. Investigators also found footprints in fresh snowfall and a discarded fast food wrapper at the scene.
That fast food wrapper was traced back to a a local convenience store, prosecutors said. Security video from the store led police to identify Silva, Sin, and Poulakos as suspects.
The suspects allegedly used a saw to cut the safe open and steal the money inside. Investigators later found the safe discarded in a nearby riverbank, prosecutors said.
Police later found some of the contents of the safe in Silva’s room in Lowell, prosecutors said.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.
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