Signs of Robbers...

[ourmisadventures]

OK, So I couldn't not post this, because two years ago I would of been none-the-wiser.

Today a guy was banging down our door and yelling "HELLO????" and trying to look in our windows. I ran out thinking it was an emergency with the neighbors.
No, it was someone claiming to sell something. He didn't have any pamphlets, and was idling a beat up astro van hidden behind our grove of trees.
I was irate, because he woke up Jeff, who was sleeping with the window open RIGHT THERE. Great, he has to work tonight AND we leave first thing in the morning.
My FIL and I were having lunch together when it happened, and he followed me out. As soon as he appeared, the guy ran away.

Once we calmed down, we realized the guy was casing us to rob us.

Here's the trend right now, and unfortunately this is from experience...

Robbers are going from door to door during the early afternoon to see if anyone is home. It's 1:30, what kind of salesman comes around now? If anything, solicitors would just be leaving leaflets on the doorstep. Another story they use is that they're looking for a lost dog.

Last year our cousins were robbed in San Jose, with the same method. There were young adults/teens going around asking for a lost puppy. As soon as they got to a house where no one was home, and no one was home at the houses around it, they would break in. They didn't catch the group that robbed their house, but the police say there were several groups doing this.

& it's happened in our neighborhood a few years before.

So, if something similar happens in your neighborhood, keep your eyes peeled and remember everything. I'm not going to call in what happened, there isn't any evidence, but as soon as someone in our neighborhood gets robbed, I'll give my info.

 

[taxed4ever]

ohhh my God!!! as if you don't already have enough to deal with!! Hope this doesn't in any way affect your plans to go on vacation. Isn't it sad that you have to worry about things like this!! ((((Hugs)))) to you and your hubby!!

 

[biograffiti]

Good to post this! There are so many crazy people out there these days! We go through spurts here where there are door to door “salesman” that come around. I usually just keep the door closed and pretend I’m not home but maybe I should just holler out “go away!” LOL. We’ve had instances in our area, the most recent being last summer where one of these door to door guys peddling cleaners broke in and raped a woman in her 50’s. The news said this guy was a legitimate salesperson however was recently released from prison and said sales company has a history of hiring these guys no matter their background. So… yeah, a scary world we live in!!
I used to be irritated that the neighbor’s house was the hangout for the kids who skip school and sit on the front porch and smoke all day while skateboarding, etc. and that the lady up the road sits on her porch 24/7 collecting disability but has plenty of mobility when it comes to gardening, drinking beer and conversing with the other neighbors ha, ha. Now though I’m happy to live by such folks that are home all the time and definitely DO keep an eye out on the neighborhood. LOL

 

[ourmisadventures]

Thanks Trudy

Another LEO wife agreed that it was a home invasion attempt -- especially since the guy was banging the door and yelling, the goal was to make sure no one was asleep.

I can't report it because there wasn't any crime committed, but we're around the corner from the PD substation. I'm going to see if we have any LEO friends stationed there right now & give them a heads up.

Thankfully, my in laws will be here while we're gone. I doubt the guy will be back, especially since I got a good look at him.

 

[ourmisadventures]

Hehe Molly we were posting at the same time

Yeah, there's been a ton of these home invasions around here in just the last six months. They're getting smart too, one crew was coming in from Arizona & had a person locally to case places. Then they sold everything online & sent jewelry into cash for gold. So, no evidence!

 

[hondachicc]

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD GRIEF MEG!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am happy your FIL was there at the time!!! WOW!!! I suppose I am spoiled to living in a small town and there is not CRAZY amounts of crime here....there is some, but nothing like you hear of in the bigger areas....

I know that these days....there are "white collar" robbers out there...as people are getting more and more desperate due to the bad economy...and so things are definately scarier.....

Also....I am sure most of you know this....but YOU SHOULD NEVER post on Facebook, Twitter or any other social network about your absences from your home.....This is becoming one of the most popular ways for theives to case out homes....

SAD!!!!!!!!! I know!!

Thanks for posting Meg!!

 

[clarabear]

i would totally report it because I know some places will do extra patrols and stuff if they can. But that is just me. How creepy.

 

[ourmisadventures]

Nana Linda -- My FIL & MIL currently live with us, but he's usually at work -- so it was amazing that he was there!!
I keep everything hyper protected, only my business twitter is viewable to the public. & I don't go all add-people-crazy, I even routinely go through and delete people I maybe said two words to in HS, lol.

Clara -- I was going to report it using the PD's online form, but since a theft didn't occur, I didn't want to file a false report. By posting it on facebook, I alerted several LEOs from CHP, the Sheriff's dept, and city PD, & more. The guys from Code3 Int'l don't want to lose their parent ministry's webmaster

The DH is making sure I have the smaller hand gun tonight, just in case they come back.

 

[Dutch_Diva]

Yikes that is scary but I am sure glad to read you're okay!

I would go to the police anyway and tell em; if you're not filing a report but just informing them you are not filing a false report. All you want to do is protect others from getting hurt which is something they should be grateful for but that is my 2 cents.
Do you have a dog? If not, maybe a recording with a very aggressive sounding one you can play on a CD or something may deter them as well?
Stay safe hon!

 

[ourmisadventures]

My FIL went around to the neighbors & made sure everyone was aware of what happened, a few of them had a similar experience with the guy over the course of the last few weeks. & I believe my DH passed the word on to his friends with our PD, not much more we can do than that. If we walked into the substation, they wouldn't give us the time of day because they're so stretched thin right now, in more ways than one. It's probably more proactive to get the neighbors in on everything.

Normally they would use their reserve officers or cadets for taking these kinds of reports or doing the extra patrols, but they had to get rid of the cadet program. & all of their reserve officers are having to patrol a half square mile neighborhood downtown, it has a high crime rate -- and they got some grant from the feds to revitalize it, like the school & fences, blargh. So the mayor ordered the reserves to be used to patrol to make sure her little project doesn't get ruined.

I'm upset about it because I worked for the org who started making things better in that neighborhood before the grant, and the org was pretty much responsible for the grant, but now they're totally over looked and the mayor is taking all of the credit for their work.

 

[ourmisadventures]

Oh & yeah we have dogs, but we're trying to get them to stop barking at everything because the DH has to sleep during the day

 

[SkrappyKathy]

how bloody scary!!!

 

[faerywings]

Oh my!!! That is scary. We had out house robbed when I was a teen and it was a sickening feeling. Yes, it was horrible that they took my mom's jewelry, but the feeling that someone had been watching and then *in* our home was just .... very disturbing, I guess.

Thanks for the heads up. when people come to the door, thankfully, I can usually let the dogs bark their heads off. And I have learned to never tell the delivery/service people that do come to the house legitimately that they are "sweet and friendly."

Good for you for being proactive and ty for the heads up.

 

[VickiStegall]

yikes! i'm so glad he was scared off!

 

[Creatively Obsessed]

I am so glad you were not home alone! Thanks for the heads up

 

[katg1006]

Wow Meg!!! Thanks for sharing!! So sorry that this happened to you! Glad you were not alone!

 

[Dutch_Diva]

Oh & yeah we have dogs, but we're trying to get them to stop barking at everything because the DH has to sleep during the day

Yeah I can understand that but it may not be such a good idea. Because when someone bad eventually shows up they might not bark because you taught em to stay quiet....I personally rather have em bark I think. See my Chow-English shepherd mix barked a lot too but I would tell her she is a good girl, thank you and she will stop. I taught her that and she will continue barking if I don't tell her she is a good girl so maybe that is an option?