[tony]

The original story would be believable if those who saw a man trying to forcefully enter her house had called the police. You will notice that the police are never involved in these urban legends.

Failing that, I don't believe.

Sure its good advice to be safe, but no way will I believe this.

If people do not call police when an obvious criminal attempts to get in their house, they themselves inadvertently contribute to the crime problem.

[petenj]

Originally Posted by nanci2539

This is a friend of my neighbors and she witnessed this at her friends home in Duval. I doubt if this is a made up story but I am trying to verify it.

How do you know it's a urban legend?

More likely to be false, since it is now the word of a third party. It is still a good idea to lock up where ever you live.

[petenj]

Originally Posted by cher54461

That girl came to my door. I sent her away. I live north of 466. It is not made up. She had paper towels in her hand.

She came to your door. She did not enter and sit in your house. And those original people should have filed a police report.

[PR1234]

I have had this same thing happen to me in our home in MI. Girl at the door with roll of paper towel....same story.....van full of people waiting for her...must be some kind of nationwide scam

[Boomer]

EEK! I am so sorry. I just deleted part of my rant when I was just trying to fix some punctuation. Please see explanation later in this thread if you want to know what happened.

[ejp52]

Finding someone in my house who is unknown to me and uninvited is a BIG PROBLEM.
Florida has a law giving you the right to defend yourself.

[Mintjulep]

We keep our doors locked since we were broken into last year.
The burglars gained entry thru our bedroom slider.
Thank goodness we weren't home.
But it made us very aware of what can happen.

You can bet your booties I am heeding this warning!!!

[BobKat1]

Originally Posted by JohnN

I keep my doors locked everywhere just because that's how it is these days.

I agree. We do too and that includes the cars.

The best advice to come out of this thread.

[billethkid]

a high priority for the un-invited as they get an opportunity to case/observe a property. Least priority are those that have backs of homes facing backs of homes with common back yards....little or no opportunity for observing.

We have motion sensors at open doors. And the always ready Smith & Wesson.

How many do in fact call the police or neighborhood watch when there is a violation? My guess would be not many. I just don't understand why folks will not contact the authorities.

btk

[BobKat1]

In many communities, when things like this are reported, law enforcement will increase patrols. Seems like a good idea to report it.

[graciegirl]

Originally Posted by nanci2539

I received the following message from my neighbor today. Has anyone heard about this?

We were at a friends house yesterday in Duval sitting in their living room......a guy walked into their lanai and tried to open the sliding door into their bedroom. He did not knock....just tried to open the slider. When he found it locked he immediately left. Our friend went out immediately and asked him what he was looking for....he said "another address".....to fertilize the lawn....????

Also, there was a woman in Lynnhaven got out of the shower and found a lady in her house with a roll of paper towels. She asked her what she was doing in her house. She said she was going door to door looking for houses to clean and giving everyone a "free roll of paper towels"....She told her to get out of her house immediately! This was reported at the Lynnhaven ladies luncheon and several others commented she had been to their door, but declined cleaning offer. There was a car out front with a guy in it......(The thought was they were also looking for things "to take")....

We get a false sense of security living in The Villages. Please pass this on to everyone you know and please KEEP YOUR DOORS LOCKED! (Even the garage door coming into the house if you have your garage door open)......

Wendy

I went to art studio at Colony Cottage this morning and to my surprise the above email was read to us as a warning. The woman who read it is NOT a follower of TOTV and didn't know what TOTV is. She said she had received it this morning from a friend.

I told everyone that I did not know if it was a repeated urban legend to begin with but that the posting was a year old.

By the way, we lock our doors when we go out. I have heard of break ins but not since the poster who was broken into had hers/his. There was a rash of them at that time and I think I remember reading that the culprits had been caught.

I think this is a pretty safe place overall.

[bkcunningham1]

Gracie, what do you mean the posting was a year old? The original post on this thread from nanci2539 was yesterday (4/12/10). What am I missing?

Regardless, I'd call the police about any suspicious activity. I was taught that locks are for honest people. If someone is going to "break-in" they will find a way. I was also taught at an early age to respect and how to use a firearm.

[Boomer]

EEK!

I had spent a pretty good amount of time on my soapbox this morning in this thread. I had quite a long rant in here earlier where I vented about how I get so tired of people being targeted by scum. And I gave examples of things like this that I know happened. And so I ranted about the turn the thread took to the urban legend department.

I also went on about how so many people, through no fault of their own, end up in vulnerable positions and fall victim. I just do not understand how some can dismiss these situations, like happened in that phone scam thread, too.

And I said that I did not doubt Nanci's post.

So anyway, I looked back at the post, like I need to not do, and I was messing around with some parentheses, which I am wont to use, and I managed to delete most of what I had posted. My computer was acting weird, but I might have just leaned on the wrong key or something. I do not know what happened to cause the post to disappear.

I did the routine where I kept clicking backward on the little arrows at the top of the page to try to find it but still -- gone.

I wish I had that post back. It said it all. And more.

Boomer

[Mintjulep]

Gracie, our culprits have not been caught.
The many items the police took for finger printing and DNA tests were recently returned to me, and I ask the police many questions about our case as well as the other cases. No arrests have ever been made.
And they suspected that a woman had been involved.

I agree that TV is a very safe area, especially for the population size.

But I do take precautions and I don't hesitate to call 911 if I feel something is out of the ordinary.

[Pat_RI]

I was visiting my mother in Pennecamp and we were having a coffee on the lanai and a man walked into the backyard and I asked what was he doing tresspassing on our property and he said he was looking for weeds. Thought that was weird but she just moved there and the landscaper hadn't come for the first time yet so she didn't recognize him. The landscaper came the next day and him or his workers looked nothing like the guy "looking for weeds". Probably should have called the cops or at least asked for id but we didn't think of it at the time.