At 10:35 a.m. on Oct. 16, a Highland Park police officer was dispatched to the 4400 block of Highland Drive in regards to a vehicle burglary that happened the night of Oct. 14. But the victim said a report about that crime wouldn’t be necessary, because everything that was stolen was untraceable. However, the victim did wish to report that some items had been stolen from inside his home last January.
The victim said he used to occasionally leave his house unlocked. Somehow, someone accessed two locked closets and stole a $30,000 Piaget gold watch, a $25,000 set of gold-and-diamond cufflinks, a $20,000 Cosmi 12-gauge shotgun with extensive engraving, and a $2,500 set of jade-and-diamond cufflinks. The victim kept the more expensive set of cufflinks in a small bag; when he went to retrieve them, he found pesos in the bag instead.
Because there were no signs of forced entry to the closets, the victim believes the thief must be someone who knows him and also knows where the keys are kept. But he declined to give the officer any names of potential suspects. When asked why he waited so long to report the thefts, the victim said a friend him advised not to call the police because they wouldn’t be able to do anything about it.
If it were me, I’d be casting a suspicious eye toward that friend.
Click through for a roundup of more recent crimes in the Park Cities, where the recent uptick of third-row-seat thefts shows no sign of slowing down.
Between 3 p.m. on Oct. 12 and 10 a.m. on Oct. 13, a burglar stole a $1,000 third-row seat from a gray 2011 Cadillac Escalade in the 4300 block of Purdue Avenue.
Between 9 p.m. on Oct. 13 and 7:20 a.m. on Oct. 14, a burglar pried open the rear window of a black 2008 GMC Yukon in the 4500 block of Lorraine Avenue and stole the $1,500 third-row seat, two $300 lacrosse helmets, two $200 pairs of goalie gloves, a $200 lacrosse chest pad, and a $100 lacrosse equipment bag.
At 3 a.m. on Oct. 15, a University Park police officer noticed the driver’s door and rear hatch were open on a black 2014 Honda Odyssey in the 3100 block of Amherst Avenue. The officer contacted the van’s owner, who performed an inventory and determined that the following items were stolen: $75 worth of blankets, $60 worth of computer equipment, and $1 in change.
Between 10 p.m. on Oct. 14 and 3:08 a.m. on Oct. 15, a burglar entered a black 2007 Chevy Tahoe in the 2700 block of Rosedale Avenue and stole a $200 Michael Kors wallet that held $10 in cash and a credit card.
Between 1 and 3:15 a.m. on Oct. 15, a burglar entered a blue 2008 Nissan Altima that had been left unlocked in the 2800 block of Rosedale Avenue and stole a purse that held $500 in cash as well as a credit card, a driver’s license, a military ID, and at least one key.
Between 10 p.m. on Oct. 14 and 7:40 a.m. on Oct. 15, a burglar entered two SUVs – a black 2011 Range Rover and a white 2008 Lexus — that were left unlocked in a circular driveway in the 4000 block of Lexington Avenue. An iPod was taken from the Range Rover, but nothing was reported stolen from the Lexus.
Between 7:30 p.m. on Oct. 14 and 10:30 a.m. on Oct. 15, a burglar broke into a black 2013 GMC Yukon in the 3800 block of Miramar Avenue and stole a Parker VHE 12-gauge shotgun of undisclosed value.
Between 7 p.m. on Oct. 15 and 7 p.m. on Oct. 16, a burglar pried open the back windows of three SUVs – a 2011 Cadillac Escalade, a 2013 Cadillac Escalade, and a 2014 GMC Yukon — outside a single house in the 3500 block of St. Johns Drive and stole the third-row seats from all of them. The combined value of the three stolen seats was estimated as $9,000.
Between 11 p.m. on Oct. 15 and 7 a.m. on Oct. 16, a burglar broke into a white 2012 Chevy Suburban in the 3300 block of Cornell Avenue and stole a $2,400 set of Titleist golf clubs and the $1,800 third-row seat.
Between 11 p.m. on Oct. 15 and 7 a.m. on Oct. 16, a burglar entered a white 2004 Nissan Pathfinder that had been left unlocked in the 3400 block of Princeton Avenue and stole a Mead notebook in which the victim kept track of her mileage and accounting for a personal business.
At 4:07 p.m. on Oct. 16, a resident of the 4600 block of Fairfax Avenue reported that someone had stolen the third-row seat from his black 2013 GMC Yukon. The victim didn’t notice the seat was missing until he went to remove it. He last remembers seeing it at 5 p.m. on Oct. 11.
Between 8 p.m. on Oct. 16 and 9:10 a.m. on Oct. 18, a burglar stole a red iPod Nano from a beige 2013 Lincoln MKX that had been left unlocked in the 4200 block of Lorraine Avenue.
Finally, here’s a nice bookend to match our opening account of a stale crime:
At 2:34 p.m. on Oct. 18, a resident of the 3400 block of Asbury Avenue reported that the following items were stolen from her house on July 3: $2,100 worth of jewelry, two Louis Vuitton belts with a combined value of $700, a $700 pair of shoes, a $300 Louis Vuitton wallet, $300 worth of cosmetics, and $200 in cash. The victim suspects her former housekeeper of being the thief, and she’s been trying to get the stolen loot back from her. With those attempts being unsuccessful over the course of three months, the victim is ready to press charges.
