Robbery today in Santo Domingo
 

We were severely robbed today between 2 and 4 pm, back sliding window accessed and all jewelry lost. Only clues was a grey SUV in the neighborhood, we live on Salido. and an ATV traveling the wooded right of way in back of house.

Nobody is safe
 

So sorry you had to experience this. :sad:

This is very unfortunate and sad news - guess nothing is sacred anymore. Too many people looking for an easy way to live at the expense of others. Can't imagine where that thinking comes from.

So sorry to hear of your experience. Sliding Glass doors are the easiest point of entry into a home. I have installed alarms and have motion cameras that take pictures automatically and send me an email picture. I strongly suggest that others do the same. Most intruders will scamper away once an alarm goes off.

How did they access the slider? Break the glass...not likely as it is tempered.
Lift out of the tracks?
Left open or was open already?
Were you at home or not?
Any other pertinent info that could be of value to us all?

I'm so sorry this happened. I appreciate you letting us all know. I do hope those who have violated your home, safety and security are soon apprehended and your possessions are recovered.

I am sorry about the loss of your possessions. A couple of golf carts taken, golf cart batteries stolen, break -ins......What is going on in TV?

Is all hope lost for sleeping with the windows open?? I love the fresh air. Anyone found a solution for that?

Billyg, a Sumter county sheriff reserve police officer came to our house to go over it for security and make suggestions. He showed us something called an
F clamp available at Home Depot. For any window you want to leave open, you install two. They make the window very difficult to pry, and you can open them and lock them with the F clamps. Obviously you can open them more tan about half a foot or someone could reach in and disable the clamps. But there is something you can do.

I agree with this. In my 35 years experience as a probation officer I can tell you that "criminals" brag and my guess is that The Villages now has a reputation for being an easy mark. All you need are some drug addicts who are so desperate that they will commit the kind of crimes that we have seen in the last few months. Each one of us has to do our part in our home to make it as difficult as possible for a burglary to occur. For the most part a criminal will take the path of least resistance - meaning if you have an alarm system or jimmy plates on your sliding doors, they will move on to the next house. There have been some very good suggestions on this forum for improving security. We all need to be proactive rather than reactive.

First, I want to tell you how sorry I am for you. I can only imagine how violated you feel and how insecure.


Second, I appreciate all of the good suggestions from all of you and the further support of the victims.


And third. I hate the lowlife scum who come into this area and take what we have worked and saved and planned for. Taking from us the fourth quarter of the game of life with a light heart that is the most treasured possession of most of us.


I hope that you are caught and put away.


But I think that those that say that we are being targeted are right. Let's NOT let them win. Do all of the things you can to protect your home and keep an eye open.


I went up to a guy parked in our mail drop the other day and asked him if I could help him. I told him I had his license number. And he got out with papers and a lanyard around his neck. He was a building inspector. I still don't know what he was doing at our mail drop. Our village is now built out.


Keep a paper and pencil handy and binoculars if you have them and write down the license number of anybody who is not someone you know in your area.


I am furious that these lazy BUMS can take what we worked for.

Correct,

We were at the store called Entry Point up in the shopping center near Spanish Springs (where Publix and the furniture store are) with a friend who was looking for a decorative item.

I saw this item Tri-bolt Security Lock in there, which is a bolt-type device installed at the top and/or bottom inside of your front door. It secures the door against being kicked in. A local man invented the device. Entry Point will take your name and number, and the man will call you and come out with his son to install them for $100 apiece. Or you can buy them online and install yourself. They come in many different colors to match your door handle. (Fewer colors available online.)

We had one put in at the top and the bottom of the door, although he thought one would suffice. (He said they would have to be a karate expert and be able to kick very high and hard for the top one.) The one on the bottom goes into the threshold, which I thought would make the door even harder to kick in.

He also installed anti-jimmy locks on our sliders for $65 apiece. We bought the F clamps for the windows at Home Depot in the section that has door locks. Ace Hardware has them also.

Oh, and the man and his son are very clean-cut, well-spoken gentlemen.

:clap2: Thank you for sharing. Please pm me the name of the gentleman.
Kicking in the front door is a weak point and needs to be addressed. Many of our front doors are deeply recessed and with shrubs it can be hard to see what's going on.

Gracie please be careful approaching people, best to keep an eye on them or call community watch. I know you
carry (a water gun) but sometime more is required.:-)

The Tri-Bolt looks like an excellent solution for doors, but what about a wall of windows in a sun room? We had it custom built and I absolutely love it, but now that there are predators coming into TV I am becoming very concerned. The windows lock very securely, but if someone was to break a window to get in they are big enough for an elephant to get through! Rather frightening.

I guess any window is big enough to crawl through if broken. There are no foolproof answers. Just do what we can and try not to obsess over what we can't.

Buy a gun

Chances are that a burglar will come in your home when you are not there - and will steal your gun!

If you are home, remember shooting a target on a gun range is 100 percent different than shooting at a person under stressful situations. You are likely to get the gun turned on yourself - or a family member.

Wasn't this a burglary rather than a robbery?

The Tri-Bolt looks interesting & might be a way to prevent some of the kick in's... Here's the website:

Tri-bolt Security Lock

I HOPE they will move on to where there is work. I never ever thought that unemployment leads to a life of crime.

Something really bothers me about this home invasion/theft. Did I read that a window had been left open on the lanai? Also, how would someone just know that a jewel case filled with high end jewelry and cash would be available on the top of a dresser? It appears to me that someone must have been in the home to know the jewelry box was where it was, or am I being too logical?

It does sound like some kind of inside knowledge. But I too read that a slider had been left open. I guess those locks only work if you use them!

Where we came from, you could leave everything unlocked--until the last five years, when people discovered lots of us left unlocked cars in the driveways. We had to rethink and change our behavior. Perhaps the victims in this case were used to a certain level of safety that no longer exists.

Cyndy, your wisdom is not lost on me. I came from the same kind of place and lived there all of our lives.........But here and now... We have to be careful here now.

While we are discussing home invasions/robbery and burglary - I cringe when I see people showing their collection of valuables in the paper.

In my humble opinion it is not too smart of The Sun to encourage and print home owner's collections in the paper. It is an advertisement to anyone with evil intent. Not only does a perp see the collection, but they also get to see pictures of the interior of the home, and many of the homes shown could be in Home & Garden! It's an open invitation.

I'd never seen that statistic before. Can you tell me where I can look it up?

Just had patio lock devices installed and a front door device. Work was done by Rob June, 407.947.7069. Check out SafeSlider.com.

seems like every time a situation gets discussed many people jump! things like lightening rods come to mind. now locks and alarms. like my kids used to tell me....chill out dad!!!

CC the more I learn about the horribles going on in this community the more I am prone to buying gun. And since It is for protection when I'm out of the house so is the gun. LOE just can't be every where despite what you see on TV detective stories

Yes, does look interesting. I could not see how to lock when leaving the house.

You can't. We go out through the garage. Dead bolt on the laundry room door out to the garage, and nobody can jimmy through the garage door and pull the dangling handle, because it has to be pulled backward in the direction of the interior of the garage. If they can get in, they can have my car. I want a white one.

The purpose is to secure the locked door from being kicked in. There's only so much you can do to keep people out if they really want to get in. But this is certainly better than just the dead bolt. That plus the F clamps plus the jimmy-proof slider locks have made the openings to the house more secure.

This has been around before but is an eye opener.


[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDw8DOblGB8]Breaking into a Garage in 6 seconds - YouTube[/ame]

how about bars on the windows. that's seems to work.

The problem here is we have a lax hurricane code compared to south Florida. They have what is called the Dade County Hurricane code that came about after hurricane Andrew, one of the worse in history.
One of the requirements are that all outside doors must open OUT. Other than keeping hurricane force winds from pushing the door in, this also keeps intruders from kicking a door in because it is supported by the door jam all around the door.

Then it isn't a problem for you. The Tri-bolts work well on the doors that open in. And actually, I don't see why they wouldn't work well on the doors opening out, making them harder to be pulled open.

As for the video of how to break into a garage in six seconds, that doesn't work on our garage door because the latch has to be pulled down in the opposite direction, and you would have to be inside the garage to do that. At least in all the houses built in the last four years. I don't know about the older houses. The fix on the other ones is to put a plastic tie through the holes so the latch can't be pulled down at all.

But hey, I still want that white car.

I am so sorry this has happened to you.

I was in Home Depot yesterday and saw these devices for sale. I think the were 30 bucks.

What about having a dog to deter the break-ins??

According to reports, the two guys that cut a screen and entered a house at Bridgeport at Lake Miona at 3 am encountered two dogs in the house who did not make a sound.