By Jim Clark

On Wednesday, November 9, at 12:43 p.m., Somerville Police Control received a report from a caller that he had learned from a business associate that someone was trying to sell a stolen automatic scrubber that belonged to his company.

The reporting party told the call-taker that the person in possession of the stolen property was driving a white van with a Massachusetts commercial license plate.

The reporting party is a provider of cleaning and maintenance services, and one of their automatic scrubbers, worth at least $10,000, was stolen from Hannaford’s in Leominster. The reporting party stated that a police report was filed with Leominster P.D. According to the reporting party, one of his co-workers received information from someone that while in Somerville, a man wanted to sell him an automatic scrubber and noticed a blue/white sticker on the machine with a barcode and the name of the equipment’s owner.

When police officers arrived at the Broadway location, they spotted a white van outside the building and a man sitting in the driver’s seat. The van began traveling East on Broadway. The officers followed the van, activated their emergency equipment, and stopped it at the intersection of Broadway and Mt. Vernon Street.

The officers approached the operator and identified him as Alexsandro Ribeiro. He was asked to step out of the vehicle and was informed of the reason for the stop. Ribeiro reportedly stated that he came to Somerville to get lunch.

Ribeiro was asked where he lives and he replied Leominster. When asked what he does for work, he reportedly replied, “I work for a cleaning company.”

Ribeiro was then asked what he had in the back of the van, and he replied that it was cleaning equipment and opened the back door to the van. In the back of the van, the officers noticed a large scrubber with other cleaning supplies and accessories.

At this time, a witness approached the officers and said he had met the defendant on Broadway and had gotten in touch with one of their staff members after noticing the sticker on the machine.

Police contacted the reporting party and asked him to meet the officers at Broadway and Mount Vernon St. When the reporting party arrived on the scene, he recognized the scrubber as being one of the stolen items. The reporting party was asked how certain he was, and he responded, “100 percent”.

Police contacted the owner of the van, a cleaning company, and spoke with a representative of the company. She stated that Leominster P.D contacted her and asked if her van was equipped with a GPS unit. She told the officers that she checked and found the van was at Hannaford’s in Leominster when the theft took place.

Based on the witness and reporting party’s statement and their observations, the officers placed Ribeiro under arrest for receiving stolen property over $1200 and an outstanding warrant from Dedham District Court for larceny over $250 by false pretense.