Burglars have broken into five homes and made off with expensive flat screen televisions or large screen TVs in the past two weeks, Beeville Police Detective Rene Guerrero reported.
The same burglars also attempted to break into two other homes during the same time period but failed for one reason or another, Guerrero added.
“We believe the break-ins are connected because the burglars always seem to strike at the same time and in three of the burglaries they made off with flat screen televisions,” he explained. “Also, the break-ins are all occurring in the evening.”
He said the time of the burglaries occur is atypical.
“The burglaries are taking place when people are home or expected to be coming home from work instead of at the time of day people tend to be at work or away from home,” he said. “Some of these break-ins happened while it was still light out.”
Guerrero suspects the thieves have a vehicle parked nearby to help them cart away the cumbersome television sets.
“These flat screen TVs may not be that large but they’re bulky and would be hard to carry a long distance,” he said. “And the televisions that were not flat screen — the big screen TVs — are really heavy.”
The TVs were valued at $1,095, $1,200 and $600, according to police reports.
Jewelry also was taken during two of the break-ins, and $150-$160 in cash was taken from a kid’s piggy bank during one of the burglaries. A .357 caliber revolver was taken from one residence.
According to police reports, three of the three break-ins occurred on the same day, Friday, Oct. 24.
Those break-ins occurred at 504 E. Hefferman St., 300 N. Tyler St., and 400 E. Gramman St.
Another burglary occurred at 701 E. Randall St. sometime between Friday, Oct. 17 and Sunday, Oct. 19.
Guerrero said the homeowners left town on Friday and returned Sunday to find their home broken into and items taken.
Guerrero said the burglars are believed to be the same team that is breaking into the other homes because of their method of entry.
He said he would rather not say how the burglars are getting inside the homes.
A fifth burglary occurred at 407 E. Hutchinson and was reported to police on Oct. 28.
Beeville police officers also investigated an attempted break-in of a home at 906 E. Inez Street on Monday evening, Guerrero reported.
An alarm sounded and caused the would-be thieves to bolt, he said. “We also believe they couldn’t gain entry, possibly because of the steel door and frame.”
One victim, car salesman Carlos Garcia, said the thieves broke into his home in the two-hour time frame between when his girlfriend left to go shopping and he returned home from work.
“They’re breaking in at a time when people could be home,” Garcia said. “They’re not breaking in after dark; they’re breaking before it gets dark. I’m worried they’ll break in once and someone will be home and someone will get hurt.”
Guerrero encourages residents to keep their eyes open for any suspicious activity or unknown vehicles parked in the neighborhood.
“If you see anything uncommon, like a truck or car parked along the side of the road where there are no street lights — and you don’t recognize that car or truck — give us a call,” he said.
Garcia said he was surprised to see how many of the people who live on his street have their porch lights off in the evening.
“If you’ve got your front porch lights off, then you’re just inviting trouble,” he said. “People need to keep their outside lights on and maybe these guys will think twice about breaking into some of the homes in our neighborhood.”
Garcia is offering a reward to anyone whose tip helps lead to the capture of the thieves who broke into his home on Oct. 28 and made off with a large screen TV, jewelry and cash from his 2-year-old son’s piggy bank.
Bee County Crime Stoppers is also offering a $1,000 reward to anyone whose anonymous tip leads to the arrest and grand jury indictment of the culprits behind the string of break-ins.
Call Crime Stoppers at 362-1564.
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