Brazen theft (Bedford, Euless: fit in, crime, house)

[loves2read]

Tuesday--painters were painting the outside of our old house in Bedford neighborhood north of 183--our neighbor across the street was outside working in his yard and had left his garage door up
one of the painters noticed that a black p/u had stopped just down from that neighbor's driveway and a guy got out and just walked into the open garage and came out carrying a tool box...
the painter thought that looked odd--to get something from a garage and not even talk to the owner--
so he made mental note of the license plate and got off his stilts and asked the man if he was expecting someone to pick up a tool box from the garage...

the neighbor said h--- no, and he called the police
they came out and took report from the painter (who had gotten into his truck and gone to the closest pawn shop to see if the guys were trying to pawn something--which I thought was little strange--would have preferred if he went back to painting)...
painter told me yesterday that the police traced the license number, found the truck in Euless and supposedly found other stuff that had been reported stolen...
he went to lineup at police station but said that even though he thought he got a good luck at the guy just across the street from him, he could not really make positive ID...supposed to go back today and do another one I think...

anyway--just thought that was pretty brazen to walk into open garage when the homeowner is in the front yard--but the garage is around the side of the house and probably not visible --the guy was doing yard work as well and probably did not hear anything...

that neighborhood was so crime free for most of the 20+ yrs we lived there--just few acts of vandalism more than thefts/burglaries--but lately there have been more instances of people breaking into cars or burglary...

I was just glad that the painter was keeping an eye out--they said they have had tools/equipment stolen from their jobs sites in the past because they often have the garage door up or stuff sitting out and vulnerable so they try to be vigilant--and they hate thieves...

[escanlan]

Originally Posted by loves2read

Tuesday--painters were painting the outside of our old house in Bedford neighborhood north of 183--our neighbor across the street was outside working in his yard and had left his garage door up
one of the painters noticed that a black p/u had stopped just down from that neighbor's driveway and a guy got out and just walked into the open garage and came out carrying a tool box...
the painter thought that looked odd--to get something from a garage and not even talk to the owner--
so he made mental note of the license plate and got off his stilts and asked the man if he was expecting someone to pick up a tool box from the garage...

the neighbor said h--- no, and he called the police
they came out and took report from the painter (who had gotten into his truck and gone to the closest pawn shop to see if the guys were trying to pawn something--which I thought was little strange--would have preferred if he went back to painting)...
painter told me yesterday that the police traced the license number, found the truck in Euless and supposedly found other stuff that had been reported stolen...
he went to lineup at police station but said that even though he thought he got a good luck at the guy just across the street from him, he could not really make positive ID...supposed to go back today and do another one I think...

anyway--just thought that was pretty brazen to walk into open garage when the homeowner is in the front yard--but the garage is around the side of the house and probably not visible --the guy was doing yard work as well and probably did not hear anything...

that neighborhood was so crime free for most of the 20+ yrs we lived there--just few acts of vandalism more than thefts/burglaries--but lately there have been more instances of people breaking into cars or burglary...

I was just glad that the painter was keeping an eye out--they said they have had tools/equipment stolen from their jobs sites in the past because they often have the garage door up or stuff sitting out and vulnerable so they try to be vigilant--and they hate thieves...

Sounds like a very honest painter who cares! Wish there were more of these type around!! Why not share his name so he can obtain the kudos and exposure he deserves?

Unfortunately thievery is all around us and as the economic situation hits home more good people will turn bad. Not to say this thief was good to begin with.

[loves2read]

the police found the truck/driver fairly readily--that is who they had in the photo line up for him to pick from initially--since he really did not get that good a look he was not that sure...then when the driver discovered the police would charge him anyway for theft/possession--he rolled over on his buddy/passenger who was person getting out to steal the tool box--
the painter could identify him fairly readily out of photo lineup because he did get good look at him walking in/out of garage...
so think they are both in jail now...

[momof2dfw]

This kind of stuff happens in the best of neighborhoods. Why? Because people THINK they are not going to be a victim of crime if they live in a "nice" neighborhood. They let their guard down. They leave the garage doors up all of the time. Going down our alley one day on the way out I saw a truck I did not recognize stopped in the alley behind one house. He went on when he saw me but slowly and went the other way and stopped. I saw in my rearview mirror he had went BACK down the alley. I had counted FIVE garage doors UP and not a single person out. They are easy targets. At this time our neighborhood was crawling w/ roofing people looking for jobs after a hail storm. The truck "fit in" with the roofing ones and who knows, they might have been "legit" when they arrived in the neighborhood but saw a chance.


Oh, the guy that does our yard also does the landscaping at the church. TWICE in the last few months he has had stuff stolen off one of their trailers while the crews are there doing work. Two weeks in a row at that they got stuff stolen. There are cameras and they got one shot of someone. There are people everywhere in the parking lot, coming and going and such but they still will just drive by, see it, pull up and get out and grab stuff. They ARE brazen these days. All they get is a slap on the wrist and back out again.

[loves2read]

I think they have a record so I hope they will go away for a while
just hope our neighbor got his tool box back--

[catman]

"Nice" neighborhoods are where all the goodies are that thieves like to steal. Never assume it won't happen to you! It happened to me.