Alert citizens nab car larceny suspect

PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) - Portsmouth Police are attributing the arrest of a car larceny suspect to vigilant members of the West Cradock neighborhood.

Police say many vehicles parked in the area were ransacked and stolen from on May 23. As word of this activity spread throughout the community, police say citizens became more watchful.

Jan Westerbeck with Portsmouth Police says citizens reported several sightings of a suspicious white man walking through the area.

Those reports, combined with video recorded on cell phones, led police to believe that 20-year-old Everson John Wood, of the 3200 block of Scott Street was in the neighborhood at the times the vehicles were entered.

Westerbeck says Wood was charged with grand larceny, two counts of tampering with auto and third offense larceny in two of the cases. Wood is also pending additional charges.

The investigation is still ongoing.