Police: She Stole $137 Worth of Potted Plants Using a BMW

When a Darien woman drove off with stolen potted plants with a total price of $137.86 from a supermarket, she was driving a BMW X5 sport utility vehicle, police said.

Darien police gave this account (an accusation not proven in court) of the matter:

On the afternoon of Friday, Aug. 29, Stephanie Zangrillo was seen by an employee at the Stop & Shop in Goodwives Shopping Center taking potted plants and putting them in her vehicle. When confronted, Zangrillo drove off.

The employee took down the vehicle’s license plate number and gave it to police with a description of the incident. The report to police came in at about 12:45 p.m.

Police first went to the house on Long Neck Point Road, which was the address on the registration. A resident referred them to Zangrillo, who used the SUV.

Police then went to Zangrillo’s home on Fitch Avenue. She initially denied she had even been at the store, then she said she was there. Officers asked if she had taken any plants. She opened up the garage door and showed them 14 potted plants, which were under two plastic tarps.

She said that she was willing to return to the store to pay for the plants.

Police charged Zangrillo, 55, with sixth-degree larceny. She has an arrest record going back to at least 2000 which includes charges of fifth-degree larceny, sixth-degree larceny, forgery and violation of probation.

For the latest charge, she was released on a promise to appear Sept. 9 in state Superior Court in Norwalk.

Editor’s note: Some editorial changes have been made in the initial paragraphs of this article.