Someone broke into my garage last night

[vwdude]

Well sort of. Here's what happened... We got home last night at 8:30 PM. We got the baby out of the car (wife's car) and brought the baby into the house. I left the garage door open because my car was still outside and it needed to be brought in. We bathed the baby, after that was done I parked my car in the garage and closed the door (maybe 20 mins passed).

This morning we come out and there's center console stuff on the drivers seat of my wife's car. Upon further inspection her purse was gone (a brand new Michael kors purse I bought her for our anniversary). My heart stopped as I checked for my PG collectors pieces (see my signature), but it was ALL there still (phew). The creeps did sift through the baby's backpack (which contains spare clothes for daycare).

So my wife calls her credit card company to cancel her cards. At 9:15pm her card was used at Taco Bell down the street for $10. A few minutes later they used $144 at Chevron.

Cops found finger prints on the window so they will dust it and with surveillance videos from Taco Bell and chevron they think here's a good chance they can find the perps.

We just feel so violated. We have a 16 month old baby and some looser was in our garage going through our stuff. This is a very safe city, it's mostly middle to upper middle class with median home prices around $1M. Our house is in the lower end neighborhood with our home being worth around $450k. Crime is never an issue here, and we are a little away from the populated areas, which should be a little safer.

Sorry, just had to vent.

[trickyricky]

I wish you the best of luck, hopefully those cowards get caught. Is the area you live in that bad? I thought i had it bad, but the doberman takes care of it.

[oilworker]

I hope they catch the scumbag. It is a terrible feeling knowing that someone was in your car or in your garage and takes a good amount of time to go away. Hopefully catching the thief will help make that nasty feeling go away quicker.

[vwdude]

Thanks guys. My area is actually very safe. It's probably a local teenager as they are out on spring break now and a seasoned thief wouldn't have gone to Taco Bell down the street and spent $10. They probably would have gone online and maxed out all of the cards. Plus, they left a huge hand print on the window of the rear down, as the cop showed me, they held the window with one hand and pulled the handle with the other to close it quietly.

I hope the way the police handle it is they send the kid over to apologies. My fists have a few things to say.

[ttocs]

That sucks man sorry to hear about it. I had a room mate leave my garage open back in phoenix overnight and awoke to find my mountain bike stolen.

[trickyricky]

My friends neighbor (in a much nicer area than mine) leaves his garage open ALL THE TIME, hell he even lights it up and lets a TV play inside. When I was over there late one night the garage was still wide open with lights on and tv playing. My friend informed me that he worked for the police station near by...no wonder, he's probably loaded on ammo.

The guy has dirt bikes an ATV, golf cart and a bunch of tools on the garage walls and it surprises me he never shuts the darn garage door. Oh well, like I stated he must be loaded on ammo to have that type of confidence.

[ttocs]

ya know its amazing how much confidence one of these gets ya, but I also don't have a little one around to worry about. 12 gauge



And I can also admit that the 1200 rounds of ammo I am using as a foot rest while I type this, also a good feeling honestly... I got that and an AR15 last year after I was up late and could not sleep, and thought it was strange too see a guy on a scooter creeping through the neighborhood at 4am(in October in Indiana it was a bit cool out). He parked it and then walked between my neighbors house 2 houses down. I wanted to get the plate number/description of the scooter but found myself face/face with him, although he was more surprised then I was. He said he was looking for his friend around here and took off pretty quick when I told him I got a real good look at him and his scooter if anything turns up missing and I was calling the cops.

We live in a nice area, but the county next to us actually leads the state in meth busts, and according to recent reports is in the top 10 in the nation. Earlier this year I read about a local crack head that got caught robbing a dollar general store by a preacher that carries with a CCW. After that now I got my ccw and carry regularly. Same as my fire ext I hope I never need to use it but I have one of those in my car in case as well...

[vwdude]

That's a nice security system.

Something like that won't fly in my house. I do keep wolverine claws by the bed (I want to see the look on a robbers face when I meet them with a trifecta of 14" blades).

[smgreen20]

Love the Wolverine claws idea. Late to the party I am, but you're lucky in thesense that your local police are willing to take finger prints. My wife's car was broken into on Nov 17th, 97 and we too had finger prints on her car butthey wouldn't take the prints. Pissed me off. They stole my Clarion DRX9175r, Clarion SRC5752 5x7 plates and about 80 cds.

But crime knows no boundaries.

[vwdude]

Yea that really blows, sorry to hear that they wouldn't work with you.

So a couple of updates, the Taco Bell didn't have surveillance cameras. Kind of shocked.

The bank won't tell us which Chevron the card was used at. They claim that all they know is the regional office which shows on the statement. The police want the actual store it was used at as gas stations usually have cameras. That fight is getting annoying.

Honey took the prints and they said it will be a week or 2 before they have results. I'll update you all if the prints return any useful info.

[trickyricky]

Hopefully the prints have a match.....it will be though as hell but if you do get them with the prints is like catching the cookie monster with its hand in the jar...no denying it.

Although I don't consider forensic science an actual SCIENCE trade or part of the SCIENCE community, the finger prints matching is a very good "got cha" proof. But keep in mind its comparing pictures sort of like "art" not science. Ever wonder what kind of education the guys working in forensic crime labs may have gotten? Online course? Doesn't take a scientist to become one, lol.

[vwdude]

Yes I agree that some parts are not science. DNA matching is science IMO though.

I'm worried that if they fun a match for the prints the person will claim that they accidentally touched the window when the car was outside. I hope it's enough to prosecute. Even if it's a local teen, I'm pressing charges. It's scary to think that they were ripping me off while
I was giving my baby a bath.

[trickyricky]

If those prints are not yours or your families than there is no reason for someone else's finger prints to be on your car...PERIOD. Of the countless trips to stores I HAVE NEVER placed my hands on another vehicle that isn't mine, there is no reason to do so. I can't think of a reason anyone else would touch mine either, so there really isn't an excuse for the thief once his prints are identified.

Yet alone I am willing to bet this isn't his/her first time committing a crime related to this one. No one out of the blue just decide to steal something, even when its in plain view...most people have conscience, thieves DON'T.

Man I hope you catch him/her/them. Don't know if you would want, but I would suggest cameras with infrared LED's. It won't stop a crook/thief but at least you will have more clues on who it was.

[vwdude]

Yea I'm already planning cameras in the garage and at the front door. My place is 4 levels, so no risk of anyone entering anywhere other than those locations.

Btw here's the claws that I keep next to the bed...




They might look like novelty items but I have used them in boxes and melons...they slice and dice very easily.

[mndevil]

That weapon and claw sure come in handy here in my country.

[vwdude]

What country is that?

My wife got angry when I wanted to mount the claws on the wall In our living room. I can't figure out why. Lol

[trickyricky]

You have kids around dont you??? Let one of them bounce a ball off of the wall and that thing could fall on someones head. Keep it close to where you sleep, within reach.

I can only imagine the damage that thing would do....imagine having one on each hand?? Crazy.

[mndevil]

It's indonesia vwdude

[vwdude]

You have kids around dont you??? Let one of them bounce a ball off of the wall and that thing could fall on someones head. Keep it close to where you sleep, within reach.

I can only imagine the damage that thing would do....imagine having one on each hand?? Crazy.

Yea I was kidding. Sorry, it's hard to give expressions online. I actually made the suggestion before we had a baby, but I was less than 1/2 when I made the suggestion.

Yea I keep it in a drawer next to the bed, behind some stuff. The baby doesn't have access to it.

2 would be nice, but I got in enough trouble for buying one of them.