Break-ins, Attempts Beset Tosa Homeowners and Business

A number of recent burglaries and attempted burglaries have hit Wauwatosa homeowners and business places.

In one case, a couple was frightened when someone tried not just once but twice to enter their residence while they were home – the second time after the woman had made every effort to signal the intruders that the house was occupied.

According to police reports:

A couple living in the 8100 block of Brookside Place reported that at 12:30 a.m. and again at 12:45 a.m. Dec. 27 someone tried to break in to their home.

The woman had been reading a book in the kitchen, she said, when she heard a rattling noise from the side door. She toggled lights on and off several times to ward off a possible burglar, she said, and called her husband downstairs to inspect.

Finding the screen door ajar but no one around, each went back about their business. But minutes later, the woman heard a clattering from a window, and shouted, “What is going on?”

Her husband ran back downstairs, and they found their window raised about six inches and the outside screen cut.

Police searched the area but found no sign of any suspects.

Renter's residence rifled after she left it unlocked

A resident of an apartment in the 11100 block of West Meinecke Avenue reported that between 2 and 9 p.m. Dec. 27 her home had been burglarized.

She said she had left her front door unlocked, as she always does, and returned to find cabinets and drawers open and her son’s bedroom door closed, whereas it was always left open.

Her son’s school-issued iPad and charger, belonging to Wauwatosa West High, were the only property missing.

Witness unaware neighbor was away during burglary

A woman who lives in the 7700 block of West Clarke Street reported on Dec. 28 that some time since Dec. 19, when she left town on a vacation, someone had broken into her home and stolen a laptop computer and a bottle of wine.

She said she had returned to find the back door kicked in. Police found no footprints in fresh snow surrounding the back door, indicating the entry occurred at least a day or so earlier.

One neighbor told police he had seen a man standing at the back door to the victim’s home just after midnight on Dec. 21, and said the lights were on in the house. But he did not report it because did not know his neighbor was out of town and thought the man he saw was just a guest.

Both units of duplex broken into

The resident owner of a duplex in the 6300 block of Milwaukee Avenue reported that between 8:15 a.m. and 9:45 p.m. last Sunday both units were burglarized.

The homeowner told police he had been out all day and when he got home he found his back door broken in by brute force. He was missing a 47-inch high-definition TV set, and other rooms had been rifled but nothing more appeared to have been taken.

Upstairs, the front door had been bashed in and a TV set appeared to be missing from there as well, although the tenants were away and had not returned to assess their loss at the time of the report.

Police found distinct sets of footprints in new-fallen snow in the back yard leading to and from the back door.

Burglary attempt made at truck rental center

An employee of Ryder Logistics and Transportation, 11400 W. Burleigh St., reported that between 2 and 5:54 a.m. Monday, someone smashed out a window on a loading dock door at the business.

A large lug wrench was found on the floor inside, just beneath the window. It did not appear that the building had been entered, even though the hole made was large enough for a person to crawl through.

Nevertheless, police were investigating it as an attempted burglary rather than an act of vandalism.