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Police 'frustrated' by Haymarket burglar
Western Prince William residents are being urged to lock their doors, set their alarms and keep their eyes out anything suspicious in the wake of a recent string of burglaries. First Sgt. Pete Crowley of the Prince William Police spoke with residents on Oct. 14 at the Gainesville District town hall meeting.Crowley said police see a pattern in the recent burglaries, in which 16 homes and cars were hit in the Piedmont Riding Club area of Haymarket and Gables Green community in Catharping between Oct. 3 and Oct. 4. Officers have reason to believe that it is the same culprit who has burglarized almost 100 homes and vehicles in Fairfax County recently.
Police aren't giving details except to say that they've seen patterns in the way cars and homes were entered and in what was taken.
Crowley added that there's another common feature in the local cases:
“Every house he went to had an alarm but we had no alarms that night,” he said, noting that residents hadn't bothered to turn on their alarms.
Riding Club Drive and Gables Green Way are both home to million-dollar houses on large lots in gated communities. In some cases, the burglar broke into the homes and vehicles and in some cases he found them unlocked. There were also several cases of attempted burglary but no entry.
Police noticed something else as well -- “the person went to the gated communities, moved around easily in the gated communities and nobody saw anyone,” he said, adding that indicates the culprit is familiar with the neighborhoods. “Certainly he knows these areas.”
That's partly because the homes sit on big lots and are “a little more secluded,” Crowley said. But he also noted that the Gables Green community has a gate on the front end but not on the back side. A resident at the town hall meeting chimed in to add that Riding Club isn't as secure as it looks either.
“There's no guard at that gate; there never is,” the resident said. “You can go right in on a bike or on foot.”
Crowley said security cameras aren't much good in these cases because they aren't usually high-quality enough to identify culprits and that burglars know that. The best defense, he said, is a vigilant community.
“If you hear your dog or your neighbor's dog barking, get up and take a look,” he said.
That also goes for residents who hear something go “bump” in the night. The burglar moves fast: “literally 30 seconds in and out,” Crowley said. He added that it appears the burglar looks in windows with a flashlight, identifies what he wants to take, breaks in -- or walks in if the door is unlocked -- grabs the item and leaves.
In a 10,000-square-foot house, it's not hard to see how a resident can be upstairs and not realize a burglar is downstairs taking her purse from the living room.
That's a scary scenario but Crowley said the burglar doesn't want a confrontation.
“He doesn't want to meet you any more than you want to meet him,” he said. “What he's doing right now is really working for him and it's really frustrating us.”
Sgt. Ruben Castilla of the Crime Prevention Unit also had advice for residents. First of all, keep an eye out for anyone suspicious but don't approach them, he said. If you see someone suspicious, call the police.
He also said residents should make it a point to know their neighbors; know whose car belongs in which driveway, who is on vacation and who doesn't belong in the neighborhood.
He and Crowley also noted that the burglar doesn't like motion-sensor lights -- he's shied away from those homes.
But the biggest prevention tip is to lock vehicles, homes and windows. That isn't just to deter a hit from the serial burglar; vehicles throughout the county have been burglarized by kids who open unlocked cars to take GPS systems, iPods and computers. They're generally not even taking the items to sell or keep -- they're just doing it for fun.
“They're stealing it just for the kicks of stealing it,” Crowley said. “It ends up in the woods somewhere.”
So regardless of where you live, Castilla said the best solution is also the simplest: “lock your stuff.”
For crime prevention tips or neighborhood presentations, call 703-792-7270. To report suspicious activity to the non-emergency number, call 703-792-6500.
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