Many of us see a dear elderly neighbor named B, gardening in the open space alongside his home quite often. It just so happens that he was doing just that and he was quite far away from his open garage as he was bent over engrossed in gardening.
I always admire his diligence, but have worried about his safety as he leaves that garage open for many hours most everyday, especially knowing that our area has been targeted in recent months by home break ins and such. Keep an extra eye out for dear neighbor.
At 3:30 PM, While driving up B's street, I turned on Skander to go home, I saw a green car parked across the street from B's open garage.
I decided to make an immediate U Turn back to B's street to drive by the parked car and take a closer look at who might be in the car. There were 2 African American young men sitting there, so I took down the plate number and called it in.
It is possible that he and his open house may have been watched by the occupants of that green Mirage. The vehicle had it's windows tinted dark. I took down the license plate and called it in to police requesting that they come make some sweeps.
I also spoke with B and warned him of the recent home break in trouble in the "hood." He was not aware of any trouble (or perhaps had forgotten if his neighbors have told him.) I could tell by his slow response that he may not be all "with it," at his late age.
He walks very slowly and is somewhat hunched over as well. Some months ago I actually knocked on B's front door to remind him about his open garage and to tell him about the home break ins, but he doesn't hear well and didn't answer, which worried me more.
Once police arrived, I asked the officer to speak with B about the dangers of leaving that garage open and about the break ins, in hopes that the "man in the blue uniform," would perhaps inspire him to remember the warning better.
Saturday, April 24, 2004
Thursday, March 4, 2004
March 1, 2004 Inspired to be Proactive in Crime Watching
Dear Officer KC,
I have tried to reach you by phone a few times and left messages.
I would like to mail you additional notes via email if you are interested.
I believe that some of what is happening in our neck of the woods might be related to the trio of suspects caught about a month or so ago.
The guys who got into my home, went for identity mainly, but they also purchased some sporting goods and dumped our duffel bag in the Sun Valley Mall parking lot.
There had to be a team of thieves in our house that day because my husband came home and surprised the thieves at lunch time. They escaped over the back fence leaving some of our credit cards scattered in the yard. They left behind all of our electronics which were beside the patio door with cords wrapped round them ready to be taken.
Whomever was in our home had enough time to comb through our file cabinets in search of account info and ID's, they rifled through every single cabinet and drawer and upturned several onto the floor in search of something to take. They went through clothes drawers as well, which gave me the most sickening feeling of being violated.
Police reports later found that a young blonde man had gone into Head's Up Sporting Goods Store in Concord and charged things on our credit card.
They also got our passports, our SS cards, cash, jewelry, small electronics including a Palm Pilot, CD' player, etc.
By the way folks...dogs give you a false sense of security, because our 80 pound dog was at home and in the house at the time of the break in.
In any event, the criminals entered our home through a 6 inch square cat door that was beneath a door that didn't have a deadbolt.
I remember that the guys you caught, also had similar circumstances. I did interview 2 door to door salesmen, that I feel may be a part of this large theft ring. I remember them well cause I asked them if I could see their ID badges and I held these badges as I detained them for quite some time and called police.
After talking with residents all along Morello Ave from Taylor Blvd.- to Chilpancingo and the off shoot streets along there, there is definitely a pattern of break ins that are concurrent with the constant barrage of door to door salespeople.
Each new block that was solicited, was then broken in to within a day or two.
Our 4 block radius was regularly solicited for about 2 months and several homes were broken into. The solicitors were African American males aged 18-20 or so. Some weeks they came 3 out of 5 weeknights in a row and sold after dark as well. Very odd circumstances!!! One salesman actually displayed an attitude when one couple turned them away.
Our group of watchers did such a great job tracking the solicitors that even police were SHOCKED at how often our homes were being solicited.
I have tried to reach you by phone a few times and left messages.
I would like to mail you additional notes via email if you are interested.
I believe that some of what is happening in our neck of the woods might be related to the trio of suspects caught about a month or so ago.
The guys who got into my home, went for identity mainly, but they also purchased some sporting goods and dumped our duffel bag in the Sun Valley Mall parking lot.
There had to be a team of thieves in our house that day because my husband came home and surprised the thieves at lunch time. They escaped over the back fence leaving some of our credit cards scattered in the yard. They left behind all of our electronics which were beside the patio door with cords wrapped round them ready to be taken.
Whomever was in our home had enough time to comb through our file cabinets in search of account info and ID's, they rifled through every single cabinet and drawer and upturned several onto the floor in search of something to take. They went through clothes drawers as well, which gave me the most sickening feeling of being violated.
Police reports later found that a young blonde man had gone into Head's Up Sporting Goods Store in Concord and charged things on our credit card.
They also got our passports, our SS cards, cash, jewelry, small electronics including a Palm Pilot, CD' player, etc.
By the way folks...dogs give you a false sense of security, because our 80 pound dog was at home and in the house at the time of the break in.
In any event, the criminals entered our home through a 6 inch square cat door that was beneath a door that didn't have a deadbolt.
I remember that the guys you caught, also had similar circumstances. I did interview 2 door to door salesmen, that I feel may be a part of this large theft ring. I remember them well cause I asked them if I could see their ID badges and I held these badges as I detained them for quite some time and called police.
After talking with residents all along Morello Ave from Taylor Blvd.- to Chilpancingo and the off shoot streets along there, there is definitely a pattern of break ins that are concurrent with the constant barrage of door to door salespeople.
Each new block that was solicited, was then broken in to within a day or two.
Our 4 block radius was regularly solicited for about 2 months and several homes were broken into. The solicitors were African American males aged 18-20 or so. Some weeks they came 3 out of 5 weeknights in a row and sold after dark as well. Very odd circumstances!!! One salesman actually displayed an attitude when one couple turned them away.
Our group of watchers did such a great job tracking the solicitors that even police were SHOCKED at how often our homes were being solicited.
After our first crime watch meeting it was determined by J, a neighbor whose home was also entered in a similar fashion to ours, that J had found the tool used to gain access to our back doors. J found a ratchet on a pole in his driveway that was used to reach up (from the broken cat door,) to turn the inside knob.
Also determined in that first crime watch meeting was a neighbor who witnessed a large cadillac parked in J's drive (at the time of his home break in,) he noted that the vehicle that was "backed in" and had a woman sitting in the passenger seat as I recall. This observing neighbor assumed that the occupant had hired some helpers.
Had we not held a crime watch meeting, we would not have been able to put these pieces together. Hence the importance of neighbors holding a regular crime watch meeting and talking about things they see and hear that are out of the ordinary. J's things were later recovered by an officer in Nevada who caught someone trying to use a credit card taken from his home. It was determined that this suspect was part of an extensive ID theft ring.
Friday, January 16, 2004
January 16, 2004 Friday 6:00 pm Solicitation Skander Kiki Morello Paso Nogal
Hi,
I was leaving my house last night at about 5:55pm I saw the man ringing the door across the street. I waited in my van while warming in up to see what he was doing.
He skipped the house directly across the street and then went to the neighbor's house. I waited for him to come out from their house before leaving. From the neighbor's he walked across Kiki to the another house.
I had called J on my cell phone to see if he actually rang her doorbell, and she said that he did, but she told him they were in the middle of dinner and he left. J thought that he was selling something.
When I came back home after picking my sons up from daycare, I drove down Kiki from Morello and turned left on to Skander drove past my house to check everything out. I drove all the way down Skander and saw him walking on Skander about two houses up from Paso Nogal. I didn't see where he went after that and I went back home.
The man I saw had a bald or shaved head, was African American, wearing a blue long sleeve dress shirt (didn't notice if he had a tie or not) and possibly grey slacks. His clothes were a little baggy. He wasn't carrying anything that I saw like you would expect a salesman to carry which is why I was suspicious.
K
I was leaving my house last night at about 5:55pm I saw the man ringing the door across the street. I waited in my van while warming in up to see what he was doing.
He skipped the house directly across the street and then went to the neighbor's house. I waited for him to come out from their house before leaving. From the neighbor's he walked across Kiki to the another house.
I had called J on my cell phone to see if he actually rang her doorbell, and she said that he did, but she told him they were in the middle of dinner and he left. J thought that he was selling something.
When I came back home after picking my sons up from daycare, I drove down Kiki from Morello and turned left on to Skander drove past my house to check everything out. I drove all the way down Skander and saw him walking on Skander about two houses up from Paso Nogal. I didn't see where he went after that and I went back home.
The man I saw had a bald or shaved head, was African American, wearing a blue long sleeve dress shirt (didn't notice if he had a tie or not) and possibly grey slacks. His clothes were a little baggy. He wasn't carrying anything that I saw like you would expect a salesman to carry which is why I was suspicious.
K
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)