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Our house was broken into today! :(


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I left at 11:00 a.m. to take DS to a friend's house and made one other stop on the way home. It was almost exactly an hour later when I pulled in the drive way and saw my son's bedroom window wide open and the screen off. I called my dad because I didn't want to go in the house without another adult around and the girls were with me. When Dad got there, I open the front door, which was unlocked. Both of our laptops, our brand new iPad 2 with the Griffin Survivor case I bought yesterday, my camera bag (D-SLR, 4 lenses, and tons of accessories in a Lowepro backpack), and my 8 YO's purse are gone. We live a block from the police station and several police drive by our house an hour. I still cannot believe someone went in our front window, just a few feet from the street, in the middle of the day. The kids are scared, my husband is beyond angry, and I am just sick! Did I mention all my stuff for my graduate classes was on my laptop? And I am currently enrolled in two online courses and now we have no Internet access.

 

Please don't post if you are going to beat me up over anything. I am feeling awful enough.

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:grouphug::grouphug::grouphug:

 

I'm so sorry. You must feel so incredibly scared and violated. It is beyond creepy to think that someone has been in your home.

 

Thank goodness the burglar was gone before anyone got home. Next time, though, call 911 and then call your dad -- for all you knew, someone could have still been in the house and you guys could have gotten hurt.

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Call the closet Apple store near you and let them know that Ipad with that case and other personal markers of the ipad was stolen. Was it an 3G that has a current internet subscription on it? If so, let either ATT or Verizon know. If the thief or sad unknowing person brings it in to fix it, they will call the police and hold on to it. Also, incase the police haven't done this let any pawn shops in the area near you and around your area know what was stolen in case it should come in to them.

 

:grouphug:

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Tamara: No one should beat you up for being a crime victim. The only thing that might have helped you would have been a large dog in the unoccupied house. The problem is that if you are in an urban area, probably zoning laws and/or deed restrictions prevent you from having the entire property fenced in. And, no burglar bars on the windows. My wife and DD would like to move to Texas, but we would be much more at risk of being victims of crime, like you were, than we are here in Colombia. Hopefully, you have Homeowners Insurance that will eventually reimburse you for the things that were stolen. Regarding computer courses on your Laptop, I suggest you backup online, and frequently. I have a free account on DropBox.com for that and when our DD begins Distance Learning from Texas Tech University ISD in a month or two, I will suggest to her that she backup to DropBox, frequently. GL and I hope you do not blame yourself. You did nothing wrong. Your zoning and deed restrictions are at fault by preventing you to fence your entire property and to install burglar bars on the windows.

Edited by Lanny
changed offline to online
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I am so sorry this happened to you. After reading these helpful comments, I think of:

 

1) ask the police what to do to reduce likelihood of a repeat.

 

2) try to let the anger go. When we feel violated like that we have a huge amount of anger. I felt it when my car was broken into. I wanted to hurt the people responsible. That doesn't help (thinking of your husband).

 

3) I am a little suspicious that an article bought the same day or day before was targeted. I would report it to the store, to make sure they realize the possibility an employee may be involved. This of course is a delicate matter.

 

try to relax and count what you still have, your lives and family and most of your goods.

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:grouphug: I'm so sorry. Our house was broken into when we were first married. Luckily, we were young and poor and suspect the neighbor's nephew was just looking for drugs :tongue_smilie:. It's just such a terrible feeling.

 

Do you have a dog? Our dogs make me feel so much more secure.

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:grouphug: these types are quite brazen. when we were robbed, they hit several houses on our street and there was a police car in the driveway (which the thievs had to pass) of a house they'd already hit. they were in our house when we came home, but due to time of getting kids out of car seats they were able to flee out a window before we came in the house.

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Call the closet Apple store near you and let them know that Ipad with that case and other personal markers of the ipad was stolen. Was it an 3G that has a current internet subscription on it? If so, let either ATT or Verizon know. If the thief or sad unknowing person brings it in to fix it, they will call the police and hold on to it. Also, incase the police haven't done this let any pawn shops in the area near you and around your area know what was stolen in case it should come in to them.

 

:grouphug:

 

:iagree: You can also call the pawn shops and "shop" for the items stolen.

 

This happened to us once and we were able to catch the thieves because in our state the items had to go through a waiting period before being put out for sale. I called as a prospective buyer for some of the items and was told they would be available in a few days.

 

I called the police to alert them and they recovered about half of what was stolen from us at the pawn shop.

 

:grouphug: It's a horrible feeling.

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First...:grouphug::grouphug::grouphug:

 

I know a little about how you're feeling, we've been burglarized once. It's such a creepy feeling that a stranger was in our home going through our belongings and touching our stuff! We all felt so violated.

 

I hope you have a low deductible on your Homeowner's Insurance. :tongue_smilie:

 

 

:grouphug::grouphug::grouphug:

 

Geo

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:grouphug::grouphug::grouphug: I believe iPads have a tracker?

 

"

Track/ Find iPad using Mobile Me

 

Apple itself offers a service to assist in finding or tracking a lost/stolen iPad. In case you iPad is lost or get stolen; you can login to MobileMe website and find the approximate location of iPad on a map. You can push iPad to beep a sound else a display a message to help in return. If you can’t retrieve it then it can be protected with a pass lock remotely or you can execute a complete erase of personal data so that your privacy can’t be invaded. The results of this service are more reliable if iPad is running on both Wi-Fi and 3G."

 

http://www.apple.com/ipad/find-my-ipad.html

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:grouphug::grouphug::grouphug: I'm so sorry! And how awful so much expensive stuff was taken. We had a home invasion last year and it is so hard to get over feeling violated and angry. I hope they catch whoever did it (they never caught the person who came into our house). :grouphug:

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Thanks for all the virtual hugs and encouragement! It really does help. I did have the locate app activated on the iPad, but since ours did not have wireless service, it would require the thief to log into a wifi network before they wiped it in order to do any good. As long as it has been, I figure they knew to wipe it first. :( No locator on the laptops, either.

 

I think that the thing that is getting to me he most is that they came in through my son's room. I was almost at the point of letting him stay home alone and I totally freaked out of the thought of him being here by himself when they came in.

 

There was someone in the neighborhood at the time his happened putting flyers on doors and I really think it may be related. I will give those details to the police tomorrow.

 

Oh, and we do have a dog but she stays in the backyard when we are not home. She would not have been friendly to a stranger.

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:grouphug::grouphug::grouphug:

 

Our first house was broken into three times, as well as one attempted break-in, in the 10 months we lived there; one was a week after we moved in, we put the house on the market after the first failed attempt, then it was broken into two more times while we were waiting for escrow to close. Ugh. So when I say I feel your pain, I really mean it.

 

:grouphug::grouphug::grouphug:

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Thanks for all the virtual hugs and encouragement! It really does help. I did have the locate app activated on the iPad, but since ours did not have wireless service, it would require the thief to log into a wifi network before they wiped it in order to do any good. As long as it has been, I figure they knew to wipe it first. :( No locator on the laptops, either.

 

I think that the thing that is getting to me he most is that they came in through my son's room. I was almost at the point of letting him stay home alone and I totally freaked out of the thought of him being here by himself when they came in.

 

There was someone in the neighborhood at the time his happened putting flyers on doors and I really think it may be related. I will give those details to the police tomorrow.

 

Oh, and we do have a dog but she stays in the backyard when we are not home. She would not have been friendly to a stranger.

 

So sorry!!! It makes you want to go out and get a security system...for my dh, he wanted it to be a sawed off shotgun!! We were burglarized repeatedly for 3 weeks, since he was getting it out of our storage building we did not notice...he stole all our lawn equipment and several big table saws...a big monitor (that was in the back of dh's van) and an Xbox system (also in the back...he had a business trip and they use it for 'team building!' HA!)....I actually caught the burglar in the act...at the time I caught him he was out on bond from a previous arrest!! He was bonded out AGAIN after I had him arrested...I have been battling the DA's office for months over this. Had him arrested in September, before I caught him he had 7 previous arrests..one in daytime when a martial arts instructor walked in on him and pinned him down...he made the local news...and still was out!! After September, for the next 6 months he was arrested and bonded out 7 MORE times for burglary..all the time never being called to court for his first case!! So, now he has 14 counts..I had to scream and be the squeaky wheel to ask the DA in what world do you allow this repeat offender out in the public? His court date (3rd) has been moved to next week, I will be there. These thieves are quick, desperate, and actually get quite foolish...hopefully, yours will be caught soon!!

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It sounds to me like it could have been someone who knows you and what you have. They knew how to get in easily, where to find stuff quickly, the fact that the dog was not going to be a problem, etc.

 

Definitely alert area pawn shops. We had a stroller stolen off of our front porch and it was turned into a consignment store the same day.

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Could you just do a check around your house for spare keys / garage door openers and the like? And just check to make sure no external locks on the house or garage have been tampered with. Humour me... too many people get the "follow up" visit through the front door in about 6 weeks time when the goods are replaced. I'm also suspicious about a brand new item being stolen so soon after it arrived.

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I'm so sorry. No beating you up. Shoot, you should be able to leave your front door wide open. No one should steal. I hope the police catch the jerk(s), and a miserable life results for them

 

My husband was robbed at gunpoint while delivering a pizza. He was suspicious about the call. Everyone knew this particular neighborhood was crime-ridden. He hid his money in a special place with only a little on him. The guys took off with his truck. They were caught and spent quite a bit of time in jail.

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It sounds to me like it could have been someone who knows you and what you have. They knew how to get in easily, where to find stuff quickly, the fact that the dog was not going to be a problem, etc.

 

Definitely alert area pawn shops. We had a stroller stolen off of our front porch and it was turned into a consignment store the same day.

 

In our area, if you report a crime and what items are stolen, the police send a list to all area pawn shops. I was also told that most criminals are smart, know about this, and now sell on Craigslist. So, check there.

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For everyone else on the boards, we have a police officer as a neighbor. One day, another neighbor was locked out of her house. We asked him what could be done. He advised checking for an unlocked window. She said, "Oh, no, I keep all my windows locked." The officer replied, "That's what people always say, but in my experience, it's rarely true." My eldest son helped her out by checking windows and found her son's window unlocked. He crawled in and opened the door from the inside for her.

 

I do not say this to blame the OP but to alert everyone. Sure, thieves can break in a locked window, but the officer said most tend to just move on to another house if they meet that much resistance.

 

When I say goodnight to the boys, I check their window. When we experience weather where we have windows open during the day, I secure them and check them every night. Windows are not left open while we are gone or asleep.

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:grouphug::grouphug::grouphug:

 

I am so sorry!

I know how violated we felt when our cars were broken into. (Quiet, gated neighborhood, laptop and ipod stolen, along with my dds' suitcase that was left in there - their clothes strewn through the woods so they could carry the loot in it.)

Inside the house takes it to a whole other level.

:grouphug::grouphug::grouphug:

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I left at 11:00 a.m. to take DS to a friend's house and made one other stop on the way home. It was almost exactly an hour later when I pulled in the drive way and saw my son's bedroom window wide open and the screen off. I called my dad because I didn't want to go in the house without another adult around and the girls were with me. When Dad got there, I open the front door, which was unlocked. Both of our laptops, our brand new iPad 2 with the Griffin Survivor case I bought yesterday, my camera bag (D-SLR, 4 lenses, and tons of accessories in a Lowepro backpack), and my 8 YO's purse are gone. We live a block from the police station and several police drive by our house an hour. I still cannot believe someone went in our front window, just a few feet from the street, in the middle of the day. The kids are scared, my husband is beyond angry, and I am just sick! Did I mention all my stuff for my graduate classes was on my laptop? And I am currently enrolled in two online courses and now we have no Internet access.

 

Please don't post if you are going to beat me up over anything. I am feeling awful enough.

 

I'm so sorry...:grouphug: and it makes me mad that someone violated your space and took your stuff.

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:grouphug:

When I was a kid someone backed an 18 wheeler to our door and literally unloaded our house! We lived in a very rural area so no one saw anything. They literally took everything we owned except the furniture. They even went through our pantry and took our food. I was around 7 at the time and didn't sleep for weeks. If I remember correctly our insurance claim was somewhere around 50 grand.

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When I say goodnight to the boys, I check their window. When we experience weather where we have windows open during the day, I secure them and check them every night. Windows are not left open while we are gone or asleep.

 

DH makes fun of me because I am a fanatic when it comes to locking all windows and doors whenever we leave the house or are sleeping. It took him 7 years of marriage before he finally realized I was never going to let him keep the windows open in our bedroom overnight. It's just not going to happen. Ever.

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I heard a recent story of a guy whose motorcycle was stolen. It was very expensive.

 

He found it on CL and went (with his spare keys) to "look" at it. Sur enough, the idiot who stole it hadn't even bothered to take the owner's junk out of the glove box area and the original owner looked at the guy who had stolen it and said something sarcastic and hopped on and drove home! :lol:

 

I hope you catch this guy and get your stuff back.

 

Dawn

 

In our area, if you report a crime and what items are stolen, the police send a list to all area pawn shops. I was also told that most criminals are smart, know about this, and now sell on Craigslist. So, check there.
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