Camera thief
Between 7:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. on Feb. 13, someone broke into a house on West Ruffner Street by forcefully removing a ground-level window to the lower level of the house and sliding an unlocked window open.
It appeared the burglar entered a lower-level bedroom, made a quick search of the room and then entered an office and stole a laptop computer, camera, camera lenses and a camera bag and then left.
It didn’t appear that the suspect searched any other rooms.
Ineffective back door
Between midnight and 4:50 a.m. on Feb. 13, somebody defeated the makeshift temporary back door of a home on Eighth Avenue West. The back door was just a piece of plywood held shut with a bungee cord.
The victim’s wallet and car keys, which were left just inside the back door, were the only items stolen.
When the victim woke up and discovered his wallet and keys were gone, he decided to drive to his bank to see if someone already used the credit cards in his wallet. When he got in his car he realized the burglar had gone through it as well but didn’t take anything.
When he got to the bank he was told that his credit card had been used twice, including once at a gas station at 5:04 a.m.
The burglar spent $66 on cigarettes and several cans of chewing tobacco. The clerk described the suspect and his car. The clerk also said the suspect is a regular customer, and that he will attempt to copy his license-plate number and call 911 when he comes in again.
One-room burglary
On Feb. 12 at 7:32 p.m., police responded to a forced residential burglary call at a home in the 2700 block of First Avenue West.
The victims told police they had already walked through the house, and it was clear of suspects. The front door of the house was visibly damaged near the handle and deadbolt.
The residents both left around 7:30 a.m. that day. They returned at 6:15 p.m. to find the front door wide open.
The residents went inside and looked around, discovering that only the master bedroom had been gone through. The drawers of the two dressers had been pulled out and left on the floor. There were clothes and a couple of shoeboxes on the floor.
The victims said a small wooden jewelry box and about $75 worth of costume jewelry was missing. Nothing else was missing from the house.
Garage burglary
On Feb. 14, police responded to a house on Third Avenue North to investigate a forced entry burglary to an unattached garage.
The burglar cut off the lock hasp to enter. Several cabinets and shelf doors had been opened and ransacked.
The victim said he was missing lots of tools worth up to $2,000. He was only able to provide information about two specific items that were stolen: a circular saw and an air compressor.
Incomplete mayhem
A witness called 911 to report seeing a man breaking out the front window of an apartment in the 3200 block of 15th Avenue West at 3:35 p.m. on Feb. 15. The burglar was last seen running northbound on 15th.
Police responded within minutes and completed an unsuccessful area check for the suspect. When they returned to the residence, the victim was just getting off the bus in front of his residence.
Police walked the apartment with the victim, who said nothing was missing.
The suspect appeared to have stood on a Dumpster next to north window as he shattered it. Before he was able to complete his mayhem, the witnesses drew attention to his activities and scared him off, according to the police report.