Man, Mother Accused of Attempted Carjacking in Middletown: Police

MIDDLETOWN, CT — A Middletown man and his mother face charges in connection to an alleged attempted carjacking in the Petco parking lot on New Year’s Eve.

Calvin J. Whidden, 30, of Plaza Drive, and Sheila W. Freeman, 52, of Silver Street, were arrested Dec. 31 on charges of criminal attempt to commit robbery involving an occupied motor vehicle / carjacking and breach of peace. Whidden faces an additional charge of possession of drug paraphernalia.

Both Whidden and Freeman denied the carjacking accusations in sworn statements to police, according to a police report.

Police responded to the Petco parking lot on Washington Street shortly after 6 p.m. on Dec. 31 on the report of an attempted carjacking.

The victim told police that she was parked directly out front when a man attempted to open her passenger door. She then locked the door before the man could open it.

She told police that the man, later identified as Whidden, continued to try and open the door, telling her multiple times to “open the (expletive) door,” according to the police report.

At that point, a female pulled a Nissan SUV directly in front of the woman’s vehicle in an attempt to block her in, according to the report. The victim told police she quickly pulled her car to the left and the other woman, later identified as Freeman, then pulled up to her passenger door.

The victim then reversed her car in attempt to get away from the parties and then put her car in drive and attempted to speed off, according to the report.

Whidden then entered the passenger side of the Nissan and the victim watched it exit the plaza and travel northbound on Plaza Drive.

The victim told police that during the incident she was fearful that the suspects were attempting to steal her vehicle, a 2015 Subaru Legacy that she valued at $15,000, according to the police report.

Whidden and Freeman were later located and identified and the victim told police that she wanted to press charges, according to the report.

While Whidden was being searched, he was found to have seven crack cocaine smoking pipes on his person, according to police.

In a sworn written statement, Whidden told police that he was at Petco where he was supposed to meet a friend. He said that he saw a black Infinity and thought it was his friend.

Whidden said that he tried to open the door and asked her to open the window, then realized it wasn’t his friend so he got into his mother’s car and went home to Plaza Drive to visit his friend and police then showed up, according to the police report.

In a sworn written statement, Freeman told police that she was at Ocean State Job Lot, sitting in her car, while her son went into shop. She said that he came out and walked up to a car who he thought was his friend.

She said that she pulled up to the car because she thought it was (name redacted from report) and that the girl in the car then took off and they thought nothing of it, according to the police report.

Freeman was released on a $25,000 bond and is due in court on Jan. 13.

Whidden is being held on a $35,000 bond and is also due in court on Jan. 13. He also has pending charges of third-degree criminal mischief and second-degree criminal trespass related to a Dec. 4 arrest, according to state judicial records.

Whidden has several previous convictions, including charges of sixth-degree larceny, fourth-degree larceny, conspiracy to commit sixth-degree larceny, second-degree failure to appear, illegal sale of prescription drugs and violation of probation, according to state judicial records.

Image via Shutterstock

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