Daniel Prince
String of break-ins totals over 35 since the beginning of the year
Nine more incidents of vehicle break-ins have been reported to the Union Public Safety Department over the past few days. This brings the total number of vehicle break-ins to over 35.
Tuesday morning, a vehicle break-in happened on Glendale Road. A woman said her daughter called her and said her vehicle had been broken into. When the woman went to check her vehicle, she realized it had been tampered with. She said she thought she locked the doors, but it was possible she left them unlocked. The woman said she didn’t see anything missing from the vehicle.
Another woman on Glendale Road reported she had left her vehicle unlocked Monday night. When she went to take her grandchild to school Tuesday morning, she noticed the passenger door of her rental car was left open and the glove box was open, as well. She checked her truck and found its passenger door and glove box open, as well. She did not notice anything missing from the vehicles.
A woman on South Boyce Street stated she parked her van in her yard Monday night, and when her husband left to go to work Tuesday morning, he noted that items in her vehicle had been gone through and thrown in the floor and driver’s seat. She stated the vehicle was unlocked. She said she was missing her insurance and registration information from the car. She said there were tools and other items in the vehicle, but nothing else was missing.
A man on Hidden Hill Road noted that when he came back from taking his kids to school Tuesday morning, he looked in the window of his other vehicle and noticed the glove box and armrest had been rummaged through. He said it was a new vehicle with not much inside it, but he was missing a black Android car charger.
A woman on Hillcrest Drive told officers that when she went to go to work in her van Tuesday morning, her driver’s door and glove box were open. She then checked the other vehicles in her driveway and found their driver’s doors and glove boxes to be left open, as well. She said all the vehicles were locked and secured when she went to sleep. She said she didn’t hear any alarms during the night and didn’t know how the suspect got into the vehicles. The officer found small scratches on the outside of the driver’s door on each vehicle, and the woman said she didn’t believe the damage was there before the incident. Nothing appeared to have been taken from any of the vehicles.
A man from an apartment on South Boyce Street went to Public Safety to report his truck had been broken into and his papers were thrown everywhere. He said the glove box was left open. He did not think anything was taken from the vehicle, though he did find a piece of paper on the floorboard, which was a payment agreement from the Public Safety Department for a subject that the man said he did not know. He did say a white male subject came by his residence a couple of weeks ago and did some tree cutting work for him. He took the man home one day. The man said one of his neighbors had her car broken into as well, but she didn’t call law enforcement due to nothing being taken. The officer told him to have the neighbor report the incident due to the number of car break-ins happening.
Someone on Wedgewood Court reported Wednesday that he left to go see his sister at the hotel on the Bypass. When he got back home, he said he was going to sharpen his chainsaws, but he noticed his Stihl 170 and Poulan Pro chainsaws were stolen from the back of his vehicle. He said they were in his trunk before he left. He gave the officer the name of a subject he has seen around the car recently, but he didn’t know if that person could have taken the tools.
On Tuesday, a man on Brookside Drive reported a suspicious person trying to get into property owners’ vehicles. The man provided officers with video of the incident.
A woman on O’Shields Street said that a couple of weeks ago, she went out to her car and found everything from the center console and glove box scattered around her front seats. She said nothing was missing. She stated she always locks her car, and she didn’t know how anyone could have gotten inside. She said she hadn’t planned to report it since nothing was missing, but after hearing of all the car break-ins in the city, she wanted to let them know about it.
All these cases have been sent to investigations.
If anyone has any information on these or any of the reported car break-ins over the past month, contact the Union Public Safety Department.