Police Apprehend City’s ‘Meter Bandit’

A Cambridge man was charged Tuesday with “receiving stolen property of over $250 and breaking into a depository,” after Cambridge Police found 123 parking meters in his home Monday night.

Thomas Gannon, 38, was found in possession of the parking meters when police entered his home to serve a warrant for a separate offense, according to a spokesman for Cambridge police, Frank Pasquarello.

“When they went to the apartment they found the parking meters there,” Pasquarello said yesterday. “Most of the parking meters were found stashed in a closet, but there were many hidden under blankets atop of beds and in various corners of the house.”

Pasquarello described Gannon as someone with an extensive criminal history.

According to a Cambridge Traffic, Parking, and Transportation spokesman, the alleged heist cost the city at least $37,000 in replacement fees

Assistant District Attorney Kate Cimini estimated that the final cost in lost revenue would be closer to $100,000, the Boston Globe reported.

All of the meters in Gannon’s house were found emptied with tags of their designated street addresses. Six of the parking meters were from Somerville, while the rest were from the East Cambridge area.

While the Cambridge Traffic, Parking, and Transportation department had noticed that meters had begun disappearing last year from Cambridge and Somerville, authorities had been unable to nab the so-called “meter bandit.”

“There’s never been anything that big,” said Pasquarello. “A few parking meters have been stolen, but never anything of this scale.”

While such a theft may be a first in Cambridge, cases of meter burglary are not uncommon.

In 2006, a New Hampshire couple was charged with stealing over $3,000 worth of parking meters, and this year, five people were charged in New York City with collectively stealing over $250,000 worth of meters.

Gannon’s lawyer, Paul Mishkin, could not be reached for comment.

Gannon is currently in custody and being held on a $5,000 bail.