Two more burglaries
 

On Saturday. One in Mallory and the other in Hemingway.. Read the detail on that other villagesnews URL. These thieves are becoming more brazen and will get caught...I hope soon!

If they come into my home it will be their last.

The homes that are broken into, are there houses behind them, or it it just open fields/areas?

They are able to get in and out in broad daylight. It must be at least two people and they must live within or nearby just because they seem to blend right in.

We have no houses behind us and believe me when I say we are not only "alarmed" to the hilt but are also "prepared to defend". I pity anyone who tries to break into our home!

Prepared to defend only works if you are there when they come. So far, they have only broken in to one home when the people were there.

Burglaries are definitely bad but at least we are not saying two more murders!

As long as there is no control of contractors, handymen,landscapers and tree trimmers, this will continue to happen. Being there is no security (smoke and mirrors) the bad guys will continue to prey on homeowners that have daily routines. We all must protect our homes, this is no different than living in a wealthy neighborhood in Connecticut, and hoods from NYC burbs on the prowl, they follow the money.

The burglars seem to steal cash and jewelery. $600 cash in one home, $200 cash in another. Almost as if they are targeting certain homes. :confused:

That is so right. So whether we are home or not, we are protected as much as we can be.

Tons of old folks with bad hearing and fading eyesight, laying in bed with loaded handguns. Ready to fire off a few rounds to get those buggers... Welcome to paradise!

When we are not home the alarm is on and the dog is home. She is an Alfa Female. All they could steal is a tv or stereo if they got that far. If we are home they will get severely shot under the Castle Doctrine.

They have caught five of them since January first.


Not everyone has jewelry and cash in their houses. They must know who does. I think there is a link to a cleaning person or a jeweler or someone with specific information who knows who has jewelry. I don't understand when you say there is no control of contractors, handymen, landscapers and tree trimmers. Controlled how? They have freedom to come and go everywhere. HOW would you have them controlled?


Most of us can look outside and see very few people outside most of the time.... There was the white four door sedan spotted at two burglary sites. I say if you are leaving and you see a car parked that doesn't belong, nearby, go back home.


Also, we are mostly senior citizens who live here. If you see someone who doesn't look like the majority of the population, then be suspicious. Nothing wrong with that.

What bothers me is that they have stopped kicking in doors and lifting out sliders (we had ours extra-secured months ago) and have started breaking windows.

I just can't imagine why anyone would keep that much cash in their house. Unless they are very elderly and are historically used to dealing on cash-only basis and are afraid of debit and credit cards.

I read about Villagers having alarm systems and weapons of many sorts (probably), but I have not heard or read about anyone having quality surveillance cameras.

While that would not stop anyone, it certainly would be a best bet in identifying and finding the criminal(s).

If you really want to catch them, turn off all tour lights, let newspapers pile up in your drive way and put a note on your door saying you will be back next week, then camp out in your house with your little friend in your lap and wait.

On the serious side, I would hope that the law is always looking for a common thread, like stopped paper, stopped mail, curtailed service of any kind, etc. etc..

Also, a simple thing we all can do is snap a picture of any lic plate or stranger and hold till the next day or so. These thieves are visible for a few minutes. When nothing happens, delete.

All my valuables are stored away from the house. We don't like or need jewelry and cash is always at a minimum. so in effect we are house poor

I do believe burglaries are based on pre-mediated planning/targeting and that they may have had access to homes prior to their invasion

However it is always prudent to remain aware of your surroundings and so ensuring something of a curious nature does not escape you.

Given its environment I doubt contractors, etc have the capability or desire to vet their hires as such. In essence they need bodies to meet their commitments and that is the only source of control which is closed to us. Beside based on previous arrests not all are servicing this community and so while one can speculate it is not fair to indict all of them or pre-judge. Many of the contractors, etc here provide a good product and service to the community and should be respected for doing so

One of the burglaries took place within a 25 minute span. Needless to say, the homeowner was seen leaving the house. I hope the sheriff checked to see if lawnmowers were nearby or other service providers were in the very nearby area.

Same for the one who was gone for 3 hours.

Why has it not the name of that cleaning company been given who hired that one burglar? A company that does not perform in-depth background checks should be outted.

Once again, if someone had a loaded pistol at their home at the time of a burglary, it would have been in the hands of the burglar.

To those who would shoot a burglar over material things, have you really thought about the consequences? I would not want to open myself to the nightmare my life would then become for months and months and months.....possibly years of legal battles, with the possibility of losing in court....

Buggy, in one of the articles on the burglaries, the Sheriffs rep stated the perp got information from a woman working for a cleaning service. Don't see the need to drag the cleaning service thru the mud. ( I don't know the service)

:agree:

I remember a case in Iowa several years ago when a farmer had been burgeled a few times so he set up a shotgun on a tripwire aimed at the front door when he left home. A burglar entered, hit the tripwire, was shot in the stomach, and a long legal case took place. It ended with the farmer being found negligent and having to pay huge damages to the burglar in a civil suit.

Many large cleaning service have employees whose history is not known to the owners. If background checks are used then that would add to the cost of the service. That is how things work.


There are several one woman or one man or couple services that have received a lot of good press on this forum.


I would be skeptical and careful if I were hiring a cleaning service now. I never ever thought about all of the times I had unknown folks unsupervised cleaning my carpet in the past. But then, I didn't have jewelry then either. Not a fan.

We do not have a gun. We do have a large dog. Unfortunately, he is of the "How can I be of service?" variety. However, I do think he would sense if someone approaching the house were up to no good.

And he does like to lounge in the driveway on a line, so people passing through probably know this house has a large dog.

I cannot imagine shooting someone over a burglary. Don't know how I would live with myself if I killed someone who was not out to kill me first.

a reason they may be breaking windows is they know that an alarmed home can be entered by breaking the glass which does not trigger the sensor in the window.

That is why if you choose to put in a security system be sure to include motion sensors and a glass break sensor in your system.

I would doubt if the burglar crawls through the broken window. They probably reach in and unlock the slider or door. Definitely, do put in the glass break sensors as an extra layer. Motion detectors can be set off by moving shadows or passing lights.

I have a camera with me at all times. When I/we leave the house, I photograph vehicles (and license plates), as well as people walking/biking that I do not recognize. When nothing happens, I delete after a week.

This is yet another example of how upside down the legal system can be when it comes to common sense. If a criminal enters one's house, and gets shot as a result, that should be the end of it right there ... assuming the intruder is shot in the front vs in the back.

Actually, if you came home and surprised the intruder in your house, he could very well act out of panic and shoot you or your hubby. This almost happened to friends of ours.

Maybe it's my military background ... but if I had to shoot a criminal inside our house for self defense, I would not have a problem with that. It's within the law, and I would be protecting my home and wife.

Actually another solution is to get ADT's newer "shock sensors" ... if the glass is banged or shocked (ie does not have to be broken ...someone banging against it is good enough) the alarm will trigger.

I agree with your scenario. That's why I said "... out to kill me first." My post was regarding a few who said, in so many words, "Let them come in; I'm sitting here with my loaded gun," as if they would shoot first and ask questions later.

Congrats to you SanFran! This is the single most effective thing that we can each do. I take a similar approach but I keep the photos and info much longer ... disk storage is cheap. :)

Bad guys get nervous when they see that the old folks are actually paying attention. Btw, getting the tag number is crucial. Sheriff can't do much without it to investigate suspicious car.

CF, UR one of my faves...
I've had my door kicked in, not here, elsewhere.
you can't say, "hello, do you just want my stuff or are you going to kill me?"
There is the sound of an explosion at the door....
if you are very close to your weapon and in a back room, you might have a chance to take them down first. I would not ask questions.

I've thought this through KNOWING that had the original door-kicker come into my house (thank God he walked away), I could have killed a 17 year old who thought kicking in a door was a prank. That would not be easy to live with, but that's what I would still do.

I am looking for a security company. Who are you using? I have used ADT when I lived up north, but don't know how effective they are in the south.

I recommend the infra red motion sensors.......they must have a certain amount of body heat/temperature rise along with the movement. These sensors have an advantage over the standard sensors in that one can have a pet of 40 pounds or less roaming the house when the alarm is set and it will not trigger the alarm....40+ pounds or more it goes off every time.

I get ya, Kitty. Different reactions for different people.

I think my first thought would be to use the gun to blow out the nearest window and jump through it. Or shoot through the ceiling. But my first reaction to anything that scares me is to get the heck out.

I'm sorry you went through that scare.

We have two dogs, one of them large enough so that most visitors ask cautiously "is he friendly" before they enter our house. CFrance, you might be surprised what Crosby would do if you weren't there and an intruder entered your home. Perhaps I'm naive, but I do believe that a barking dog will act as a deterrent to most intruders.

We don't have a gun. Like you, I cannot imagine shooting someone unless I was convinced that my life was in danger.

Just my opinion and to keep things in perspective: We moved here from Fort Lauderdale about 2 years ago. At that time in our small neighborhood of a few hundred houses, there were more burglaries in a month than in a year here. Sure I hate it that there are criminals around/in The Villages, but it is so much safer here than so many other places.

Those of you who post that you do not own a gun are telling the criminals to target your home. I would not shoot at someone who broke into my home but I surely would point a gun at them. I believe most criminals when confronted by an armed person will retreat. That is the purpose of pointing the gun. That said, if a burglar then threatens you or anyone else in your home or is armed (not usually) then you are justified in using a gun for protection. Just remember there are prosecutors out there that would love to put anyone who even threatens someone with a gun in jail just to booster their own career. The Florida legislature is currently debating a new law that would prevent zealous prosecutors from doing that. It's called HB-89 Threat of Force.

These are all good points. I seem to fall on both sides of this gun issue. I hope we posters never have to prove ourselves right or wrong.