MARTHA LAKE- Burglaries

On Friday, January 10, around 12:30pm a home was burglarized in the vicinity of East Shore Drive in the Martha Lake area. All of the homeowner’s jewelry was taken. The burglars smashed the glass in a door while the burglar alarm was sounding. The owner said that the burglars seemed to know where to look for the jewelry.

Martha Lake Neighborhood Watch members have noticed at least three suspicious people in the area that may be related to the burglary:

1. Two people, a man and woman, associated with a dark gray pickup truck, possibly a small Ford, with an extended cab and trailer hitch.  The woman was described as having shoulder length light brown hair. Both the man and woman appeared to be in their 30’s. The woman was also carrying a white bag/container. The victim noted that their white recycling container was missing.
2. A third person had been seen in the area multiple times. She was described as having blond hair and was between 16-20 years old. She would go around the neighborhood taking pictures of herself (a “selfie” in modern parlance) in front of homes. She was seen on a skateboard, by herself, but did not seem to be an accomplished skateboarder. She was seen in the area in the early morning hours (around 4:15am).

Note: From the description of the incident the burglar(s) probably did not stay long with the burglar alarm going off. They probably have some experience in conducting burglaries in that they made a beeline for the jewelry. Burglars know where most of us store our jewelry, so they just find those places in each home they enter. They also have a sense for where we usually store important documents and cash. A good reason to store these valuables in a hidden safe, bolted to the floor. Keeping your valuables, and guns, in a safe forces the burglar to take too much time to get to your stuff. They probably will pass it by even if they find it. BUT BE SURE TO BOLT IT TO THE FLOOR!

Also, burglars often take advantage of the things in our houses to haul off their loot. They will use your trash bags, waste containers, even your pillow cases. I don’t know of any practical way to avoid this. But, if you are victimized in a burglary, you might also make an inventory of your pillow cases (on your beds) trash containers, etc. If you are missing a pillow case, for example, you can give a description of it to the investigating deputy.