So what does a burglar look like? What does he drive? How does he operate? In the middle of the night or during the day?
On June 9, 2016 at approximate 10:45 am, a burglar struck my
neighbor’s home on Paseo Tapajos. On the
same date between 8:45am, and 10:31am, a home one block away (as the crow flies)
was burglarized on Paseo Carreta. The
location of the homes was not unusual.
They aren’t located on a corner, they have neighbors on either side and
across the street. The rear of one home
backs up to Rancho Bravado; the other one backs up to the canyon. From the home on Paseo Carreta you can see
the roof line of the one on Paseo Tapajos.
And perhaps a coincidence: both houses are the third in from the corner
and on the left side as you enter off of the main street.
At 8:44am, the alleged thief drove slowly down our street, made a U-turn and then unhurriedly retraced his movement back out to Rancho
Bravado. The bed of his pickup truck was
empty. But the future victim’s car was
still in the driveway.
At 10:44 am, the same pickup returned and drove back down the street but
this time he had a bicycle in the bed of his pickup.
And the upcoming victim’s car had left for the morning. The thief turned around somewhere down the street then
returned and pulled to the curb in front of the next-door neighbor’s house
because a waste container blocked the parking area directly in front of the
victim’s home.
And what did Mr. Burglar do?
He simply got out, went to the sidewalk and hung out, leaning on the
passenger side of his pretty truck with no plates: the rear plate appeared to have an auto
dealer’s placard.
So what did the alleged burglar look like: well, he didn’t look like the “Hamburglar,” that’s
for sure.
He didn’t wear a ski mask or a
bandana to cover his face. He didn’t
have a black hoodie or camouflaged clothes.
He didn’t try to hide from those who walked past him while he lounged
next to his shiny new black Dodge Ram pickup with those gleaming, chrome, custom
rims parked in front of his victim’s neighbor’s home with a possible stolen
bicycle in the bed.
No, he actually looked outrageous: he was wearing a bright orange, long-sleeved
shirt with blue jeans and a baseball cap:
kind of looked like someone who wanted to be seen, to look like he
should be there for some reason other than mischief. After all, what thief would draw that kind of
attention to himself? But no one paid
him a look.
Was he building up courage to break in? He probably didn’t need to! After all, he had just broken into the home
down the street and stole a bunch of stuff, including the bicycle openly hidden
in the back of his big four-door “Ram.” And
then… well the camera stopped so it is unknown which side gate he entered to go
into the victim’s back yard.
The camera suddenly keyed-up at 11am; the full-sized white
van with the square Amazon logo on the side drove up and parked directly
abreast of the burglar’s truck. Working
from his truck the delivery driver ran up to several of the neighbor’s homes and dropped
packages, passing within a foot of the tailgate of the thief’s truck. At 11:06 am, the Amazon truck left, the
housebreaker still inside. The camera timed off.
At 11:08 am, the camera re-energized revealing the alleged thief
coming around the corner from the front door area of the residence pulling a
roller suitcase. He stopped for a moment
to look down the street as a young lady walking her dog was approaching from
the other side of the street.
So, what would a normal person do that wasn’t doing anything
wrong? He did just that! He continued pulling his stolen suitcase full
of pilfered goods toward the side of his truck and then he lifted the suitcase
up and deposited it into the bed next to the stolen bike. The alleged thief walked casually around the
front of the truck toward the driver’s door, while holding a white clutch bag
which he had just swiped from the victim’s home. He hesitated just a moment and looked over at
the young lady and her dog: no problem,
he casually entered and sat down, shut the door as she slowly passed by.
Then the camera turned off.
Just a property crime the police blotter will say: two victims in one morning… not a bad day’s
work! The alleged burglar drives a
fancy, brand new Dodge Ram probably financed by selling his ill-gotten gains: the victims are traumatized and violated with
a loss of their possessions. The alleged
burglar targeted his prey; it wasn’t random – but the connection is
unknown. At one house he displayed his
adroitness by carefully breaking a window pane, unlatching the window and
slipping in side. At the other house, he
simply crawled through an open window.
He showed no fear of his surroundings:
two runners passed him, the young lady and the dog passed, the neighbors were
home on either side and he literally waved a red cape at the bull with his
iridescent orange shirt!
It’s just a property crime… with victims.
