Ironically, these neighbors planted a huge evergreen along our mutual fence so i could not see into their backyard. Yep, that worked out well. Normally I look out when I hear a strange noise.

Its not stressing me. The scumbag was just taking advantage of an empty house. The turkey is stressing me more 😂

How completely unnerving for you! I hope today is a day of peaceful healing for you. Sending hugs down the road to you.

Ded, I’m really sorry to hear that bad news. For them, for you and the neighborhood. Hang in there I hope you don’t live alone

Seriously not the smartest crook in the world. He should be easily captured. Lightning doesn't strike twice. You've had your share of excitement. Enjoy the rest of your Thanksgiving day. I pity your neighbors to come home to this.

Well darn for the burglar. With those good photos of him, he's going to be having some 'group' dining in his future. I would recognize him now if I saw him in the grocery store.

I'm glad you are not worried now. So distressing to have that happen, and right there. Really sorry for the neighbors who are away at the moment. : (

I hope your thanksgiving is pleasant and all your memories made are good ones!

Awww, @dedtired. What a way to start a holiday that was already causing you stress. Hope the rest of your day goes smoothly.

Wow, that camera sure captured his image. Shouldn't be too much of a hassle to catch him.

Nicole stated that burglars don't usually hit the same house twice. I guess we were the unusual case. We were burgled once where they took almost all my jewelry. I told my DH not to buy me anymore, but did he listen? No, he bought me a pair of peridot and diamond earrings and lo and behold, they came back two weeks later. Stole the earrings and a bike.

Orchid, one house on our street was broken into twice, but with different owners. My mother’s house, pre-Dobermans, was burhled several times.

Here is the advice sent out by the police after the recent South American gang break ins. Mostly stuff you know

“These crimes have been reported as possible South American Theft Group activity by news outlets. We are investigating these crimes for connections to known patterns, and taking proactive measures to address such criminal activity.

What can residents do:.

- If you see something, say something. Burglars do not conform to a single description, and clothing or vehicles are easy to change. You know the pattern of life in your neighborhoods. If you recognize activity that draws your attention and seems out of place, let us know. Trust your instincts.

- If you have a home alarm or cameras, make sure that they are activated and in good working order. Do not ignore activations when away even if you know the activation point to be "troublesome" to you. Consider adding second floor window sensors or motion sensors to second floor hallways, especially where second floor windows are accessible from a lower roof, wall, patio, or garage.

- Make sure that your home gives the appearance of being regularly occupied. Avoid leaving packages stacked on your porch, newspapers in the driveway, or mail visible from your mailbox. Keep interior and exterior lights on timers to come on *prior* to darkness.

- Burglaries often increase during the winter season. The early onset of evening and cold weather can make residents less attentive of their surroundings. Pay attention to activity in late afternoon and early evening hours that draws your attention or seems suspicious. Call 911 if you have concerns about a person, vehicle, or activity at a home.

- If leaving your home for greater than 48 hours, take advantage of our Vacant House program. Information is contained in the post prior to this one. You can also access the information at the link above for crime alerts. “

Anyway, enjoy your turkey!

Ded I'm so sorry this happened. It's scary and makes you feel so venerable. I'm glad you're OK and I'm sure your turkey will be fabulous! Happy Thanksgiving!

Not the best way to start off the Thanksgiving holiday!

I hope things settle for you Ded.

What an idiot -- he didn't even wear a ski mask! Yep, amateur. I wonder if these homeowners posted on social media that they'll be out of town during such and such time, or they broadcast it at work or something. Seems like a crime of opportunity rather than the neighborhood being targeted.

Same thing happened when I was younger and living at my parents house. Someone from the area broke in when no one was home, but no other house got hit -- ours was specifically targeted. My family thought it was someone in the neighborhood who knew when we'd be away; police thought the same thing. Back then, we just told all our friends we'd be gone and word spread in the neighborhood especially among teens/20s kids, there was no internet but the same sh*t happened -- always has.

I am pretty sure it was the car with the cover on it that tipped off the crooks. I notice it has been taken off by another neighbor now.

The cameras are fine and might deter some burglars, but I want something that keeps them out in the first place. I guess the best is a barking dog, but I don’t want a dog

Why would a car with a cover on it be a big "rob me" flag? Unless it was someone in the neighborhood who knew that this is a vehicle they regularly drive, I find that a little hard to believe that was the sole tip-off. I say that because lots of folks have extra vehicles that they take out certain times of the year (summer up here) or only drive for certain occasions and they keep them covered in the driveway. In and of itself, that isn't a beacon for amateur burglars. Was he found on video to be lurking around, peeping in the windows and assesing the situation, or did he go straight for entry? If straight for entry, he had fore-knowledge they were gone.

Sorry you (and your neighbors) had to deal with that.

I have two scary looking dogs and one does a great impersonation of a police dog barking and lunging just before they bite the perp. I hold that one back and tell people they are rescues with unknown histories, so approach at your own risk. They have never bitten anyone, but no one needs to know that.

Unfortunately DH tells anyone working at our house or delivering something that the dogs are friendly and just bark a lot! I've given up telling DH that I want people to think twice in case they had ideas to come back or tell a friend about our house.

In LA break-ins were a regular occurrence. They would even steal a luxury car/suv first so they would blend in when robbing the houses in our town. Our FL neighborhood is gated, but we still had a few break-ins last year in houses that were close to a broken pedestrian gate. Around that time one of my neighbors thought someone was creeping around the back of her house late at night ... because of the other break-ins they sent the cavalry! 8 police cruisers and the helicopter. I guess they really wanted to catch the person or people, but it was a false alarm.

Mxk, they only cover the car when they go away for an extended time. Seriously, the house looked empty once the car drew your attention, but who knows. There are other people away on my street.

Who knows what evil lurks in the heart of men?

"The Shadow knows!"

They do sell barking dog security alarms at big box places and through alarm stores. I don't have any experience with them though.

https://www.bobvila.com/articles/best-barking-dog-alarms/

The worst thing about our burglary was that I think the person was someone we knew. Weeks after it happened I thought back to that evening. DH had left the garage door up and the connecting door unlocked when he took our Westie down the street. I had been in the jet tub when he left. When DH came back, I was in the kitchen. DH let Eliot off the leash at the door. The dog went into the kitchen. He niffed at a bit of wet grass in the middle of the kitchen floor and wagged his tail. (Our grass had been cut earlier that day.) I didn't think anything of it then, and we didn't even know anything was missing until the following day.

Our house has a LOT of undraped windows. Once I was in the tub and DH was out with the dog, the burglar had a very short time to go directly to my MBR closet and DH's chest of drawers. One of our house sitters -- or someone they knew -- would have found this easy.

With those photos, they should catch the guy, but, contrary to what Nicole said, my dad was an insurance agent and when my house was broken into while I was out of town, he advised me not to replace the TV, stereo or computer or at least not to have them installed once I got the insurance check. I was preparing to move and he said they know how long it typically takes to get check and buy replacements and it was, in fact, very common for them to hit a second time. Sure enough, they did, but all they got was my suede jacket and my knife block. What I had replaced was with me or in the attic. I knew who it was, but they had likely given a fake name and were never caught in connection with my break in. I did hear something at the house next door, know the folks were supposed to be at work and went and knock on the door and called out. They took off in the process of unhooking the TV and all they got was a costume necklace. If it happened today, I might have been shot. They still would have taken off without getting much of anything because a gunshot is an even faster police response than a security alarm.

Ded, I hope they catch the guy in time to get all or most of their stuff back, and I hope they learn a lesson about not telegraphing when you are away. We had a neighbor who did the same thing -- I always knew if they were out of town by the blinds that were closed and the lights that were on.

lascatx, thats very interesting. Steal twice! The perp had a couple bags full of their stuff but ended up dumping it on a neighbors lawn.

Maire, The Shadow predated you and me!

That's so true ded. I've never seen or listened to any of the various Shadow shows. Not even the re-make with Alec Baldwin But that line is so famous I couldn't resist.

Its a classic.

So all the stolen stuff was recovered? Are the homeowners back? I remember the Shadow as a very little kid listening to the radio.

Oh ugh, so sorry to hear that! It's unnerving, for sure. Your post caught my eye because three homes in our neighborhood have also been robbed in the last week. I think they were hit on two separate nights. They were broken into, ransacked and stuff stolen. Two had alarm systems that hadn't been set, and the homeowners were all gone at the time. The police have stepped up their patrols and spent some time the other night going door to door to see if anyone saw anything suspicious. It's not unheard of here, but definitely very unusual.

So many robberies seem to be be happening more than usual? Is this more regional or not? I haven't personally heard of anyone around here, not saying it never happens of course, but so many on on this forum having personal knowledge-is a little disturbing.

I do know, I am always more careful during Christmastime to keep doors locked etc, as I've always heard robberies are more prevalent during this time. I did leave my front door unlocked all day yesterday, reluctantly...my garage door opener AND my garage remote in my car...both needed batteries and my husband-who was gone fly fishing for the day, had our only key to the house. LOL Guess I need to go get that extra key made that I've never needed to use until then! Got the batteries done after shopping yesterday and the extra key will be done today!

eta: Our alarm is turned on every night, and we have guns-like most around here do.

Just seeing this, ded … I’m so sorry for how unnerving it was. And thankful your neighbors were safely somewhere else. Hugs!

A neighbor had a small fire and they stayed elsewhere while the house was being repaired. During the repair period, burglars pulled up a truck and stole things. None of neighbors thought anything of a truck in the driveway, that happened everyday since the fire. The burglar must have been someone associated with the reconstruction. The homeowners decided they weren’t returning, sold the house and moved.

Burglaries have been going on here forever. In the past it was usually ne’er-do -wells that came from nearby less affluent areas. It was usually during the day when they saw people leaving the house. They smashed a window, grabbed what they could and were gone.

Now the burglars are much more sophisticated ( although not in the case of my neighbors), coming in organized gangs from South America.

I was advised to keep wasp spray at hand in case of a breakin while im home. These burglaries almost never happen when someone is in the house.

I’ll take necessary precautions but I can’t live my life defending the fort.

Which state is this? Sorry to hear this. It’s time to set up a security system.

Summer, Just outside Philadelphia.

My late parents’ house was broken into, just before we put it on the market. You’d think they’d scope it out first, but no. There was nothing for them to steal, naturally they bypassed the Waterford on the table where they entered, went right into the hall ( probably to head to the bedroom for jewelry?) and set off the motion detector. But what a bother! They ripped out the alarm box and left, with the patio door glass everywhere.

The police said it fit the profile of other robberies lately, they said it is a Venezuelan gang. But burglaries have always gone on. Heck, that’s why my parents put in the alarm system in 1970.

Hmmm, I thought these "south American gangs" were supposed to be professionals. You cant have it both ways.

When we had our LA house tented/fumigated for termites, the company suggested we get security because it was common for the tented houses to get broken into, since they have to leave a window partly open to blow in the poison. We hired a local security company to have a guy sit in our driveway during the night and drive by several times during the day for the 4 days the house had to be tented. You'd think the toxic fumes would deter any break-ins?

As far as professional "south American gangs" ... even in that profession someone had to have graduated at the bottom of the class! Dedtired's guy is definitely an amateur and/or quite dumb. All the break-in camera photos in my area of LA had guys with hoodies pulled all the way up, some type of face mask and some also wearing gloves.

Yes, the burglar next door was definitely a blunderer. He even dropped the loot on a lawn down the street. The homeowners got all their stuff back. Its the big houses on bigger properties that are targeted by the so-called burglary tourists.

I believe this is FBI data but to get the Source from Statista you need to subscribe

I think you would want to look for local data. The "nicer" neighborhoods will have much higher rates than the "bad" neighborhoods. My town in LA was a prime target with easy highway access for a quick getaway. Break-ins definitely increased from 2010 - 2020 when we lived there and friends have mentioned that they now also have homeless people in town, which they didn't have before.

Of course local data is better - I was responding to a general misconception that crime is up.

As for wealther neighborhoods being riskier, interesting article from LSE. https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/usappblog/2016/09/26/why-disadvantaged-neighborhoods-are-more-attractive-targets-for-burgling-than-wealthy-ones/ .Not my area of expertise but I think crime generally has a much higher incidence in disadvantaged areas.

I just saw it on the fb page per police report. So the same tumblers did a similar break in 2 nights before about 10 miles away.

That would be unnerving for sure. A few years ago my neighbour had a home invasion during the day while they were home. Nothing like that ever happened in my neighbourhood and robberies were usually done by neighbourhood kids that were always caught. Turned out my neighbour's heroin addicted daughter arranged for this home invasion so she could get her hands on the safe in the house.

Salonva, yes, I saw that, too. What a jerk.

Turned out my neighbour's heroin addicted daughter arranged for this home invasion so she could get her hands on the safe in the house.

oh my goodness, what a a heartbreak

By the by, Ded has a burglary, I gotta fire, who is up next with locusts?

All I can say is, thank you both for sharing what has happened to you or around you. We all learn so much when things like this are shared. Crossing fingers for an uneventful year to come!

I'm sorry this happened in your neighborhood. The thought of burglary is so unnerving. Theft from open garages is not uncommon here in my city. And I did have an old truck broken into twice in our driveway even though there was absolutely nothing inside. (The second time really pissed me off because they broke the door locks on the truck.) My husband has always been pretty adamant about keeping window treatments closed and we are very careful about locking doors even when we're home. A family member in law enforcement once told me that the majority of thefts he was dealing with were drug users stealing to pawn and fuel their drug habit/addiction.

Ded, your neighbor's robber's pictures were on the Channel 6 news this evening. I jumped up and yelled. "Hey, I know that guy!"

Oh, I wish Id seen that!

sushi, is it up on the 6abc website? I tried to search, but no luck.

Oops, I think it was Channel 10, 6 PM news. NBC local? Story interviewing Abington police, which has had a bunch of high-end robberies. (Sorry for the mix up, remember I'm not from around here.)

It certainly seems that he is not a part of the sophisticated South American "Tourist Visa" burglars!

Most definitely not.

The dumbbell even had a FB account with his picture.

That is funny!