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Community Corner

Region Roundup: Armed Robberies; Fatal Car Accident; Cocaine Bust (And More...)

A look at what is happening around the region.

Stoughton Police Investigating a Pair of Armed Robberies

Stoughton Police are investigating a pair of armed robberies which took place at Fairy Tales Formals and Rite Aid last week.

Police received a call at 3:11 p.m. March 14 reporting a robbery at Fairy Tales Formals, located at 761 Washington St. in the downtown.

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Police say a man walked into the store and stated that he had a gun, stole a few hundred dollars in cash, and then fled on foot.

The day before, March 13, Stoughton Police responded to a robbery at Rite Aid at 638 Washington St. in Shaw's Plaza just before 7 p.m., where a suspect with a knife stole an undisclosed amount of pills from behind the pharmacy, before getting away in a stolen vehicle.

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This same vehicle was later found torched in Bridgewater, shortly before 4:30 a.m. on March 14, about 10 hours after the Rite Aid robbery, according to a tweet from the Bridgewater Police Department.

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IKEA Stoughton Expansion Plans Get Thumbs Up from Zoning Board

After IKEA announced on Wednesday that it planned to expand the Self-Serve Furniture Area and warehouse of its Stoughton store, company representatives appeared at a joint meeting of the Stoughton Zoning Board of Appeals and Stoughton Planning Board Thursday evening seeking approval for the approximate 60,000 square foot expansion. 

The ZBA approved relief for three zoning variances, allowing the project to move forward, so long as the ZBA signs off on the written decisions which will be drafted by attorney Leonard Simons, who is representing IKEA.

The Planning Board voted to continue the hearing on the application for site plan approval to its next meeting on April 11, wanting more time to review updated plans which had come in the day before Thursday's meeting.

Construction activity is expected to begin by this fall (2013), with an expected completion by fall 2014, the release states.  The store will remain open and operational during construction, maintaining its full product offering.

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22-Year-Old Easton Woman Dies in Overnight Accident

Alexandra Hamilton, 22, of Easton passed away at Brigham and Women's hospital Friday from injuries sustained during an overnight accident on Turnpike Street.

Hamilton, the daughter of Easton Police Officer Steven Hamilton, was traveling northbound on Turnpike when she struck a diesel fuel truck traveling in the southbound lane, Police Chief Allen Krajcik said.

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Norwood Police Arrest Two Suspects for Cocaine Related Charges

Norwood and Wellesley detectives of the NORPAC Task Force were conducting surveillance on St. James Street, near Washington Street, for a drug dealer on Friday.

According to police, the detectives observed Denny German, 31, of Salem, sell five $100 bags of cocaine to Norwood resident Derek Hamlin,33.

After the transaction was done, both individuals were placed under arrest.

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Sharon Woman Helps Run Girls Soccer Club in Haiti

What began as a 10-day trip to Haiti in 2011 for Taryn Silver turned into a new home and about 50 new friends.

Silver, a former Sharon resident, helps run the Association Sportives des Jeunes Filles de Fond des Blancs (The Sports Association of Young Women of Fond des Blancs), a girls soccer club in the rural town of Fond-des-Blancs, about 70 miles west of the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince.

Silver moved to Haiti in 2012 to work for the St. Boniface Haiti Foundation in Fond-des-Blancs.

It was there where she met Andover native Molly Klarman who had started the club last year.

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