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February 27. 2013 11:08PM

Police seize goods believed stolen in car break-ins at Hooksett rink

By BRENDAN CLOGSTON
Union Leader Correspondent

HOOKSETT - A police search of a van driven by a Manchester man uncovered dozens of allegedly stolen iPods and purses that police believe were taken in a string of vehicle break-ins at a local hockey rink.

According to a news release, Hooksett Police Officer Brett Fernald responded to a call of a car break-in at the Ice Den hockey rink on Quality Drive. A window in the victim's vehicle had been smashed, and several items, including a purse, stolen.

A few parking spaces away from from the burglarized car a commercial van owned by Interior Magic was parked. Looking through the window, Fernald saw a number of purses and bags. Another break-in victim at the rink identified one of the purses in the van as hers, police said.

Surveillance was set up, and Officer Christopher Buker saw a man enter the van and drive away. Buker stopped Alex Basoukas, 24, of Manchester. Basoukas told Buker that he had run out of gas and was waiting for friend to help him.

After receiving Basoukas' consent, Buker searched the van and found several purses and iPods, some with different names on them. Basoukas insisted that he purchased the iPods at a GameStop, and Buker ceased the search so he could obtain a warrant.

The warrant was issued Feb. 25. Seven iPods were found in the ensuing search, including a gray iPod shuffle, a white 2 gi-?gabyte iPod Nano, a black 8GB iPod Nano, a black 8GB iPod Touch, a pink iPod Nano, a 64GB iPod Touch with "S. Griffin, Class of 2012" engraved on the back, and a 4GB iPod Nano with "J. Dannis" engraved on the back.

Other items found included a red RCA MP3 player, a black 8GB Philips GoGear Aria MP3 player, several MP3 chargers, an 8GB i-Ecko thumb drive, a black Amazon Kindle, a black IPod FM transmitter, a gray leather Michael Kors purse, a metallic gold Coach purse, a black Michael Kors purse, three pairs of ladies pumps, a Kohl's merchandise gift card, Jones NY Sunglasses and drug paraphernalia.

According to Hooksett Police, the owner of Interior Magic was not involved with the thefts and was unaware that a company van was involved in the activity.

Hooksett police are asking for assistance in identifying the owners of the recovered property and encourage anyone with information that may assist the investigation to contact Fernald at 624-1560, ext. 151.

A booking photo provided to the media suggests that charges have been pressed against Basoukas, though the press release does not specify them. Detective Caitlin Rebe, the release's author, could not be reached for comment.

bclogston@newstote.com