Police Report: Rashes of Vehicle Break-ins and Entries Continue

There have been a great number of reports of thefts from vehicles in recent weeks, and in many cases these have cost residents valuable items that were left in their cars that could have and clearly should have been brought inside, as in our first item:

Sunday

At 6:22 p.m., a resident of the 2500 block of Pasadena Boulevard reported that at some time since 6 p.m. Saturday someone had stolen a television set, a boxed set of new cookware and a package of men’s T-shirts from two unlocked vehicles parked in her driveway. She said she had left a 19-inch flat-screen TV worth $200 behind the driver’s seat of her minivan and covered it with coats. The cookware set, worth $300, and a 12-pack of T-shirts, $35, were still in the store bag, with the receipt, in her other car.

At 5:23 p.m., a Wauwatosa man called police from , 2421 N. Mayfair Rd., where he works, to report that someone had broken into his car and stolen the stereo by prying down the front passenger window. Police reviewed surveillance video of the parking lot and at the 3:38 p.m. mark saw a Cadillac pull up behind the man’s car. An unknown suspect got out and was seen at the passenger side of the victim’s car. The distance from the camera was too great for officers to get a description of the suspect, and the Cadillac had no front license plate.

Saturday

At 4:59 p.m., a 16-year-old Milwaukee boy was arrested for retail theft at at Mayfair Mall after he was seen going into a fitting room with clothing items and coming out wearing them, then trying to leave the store without paying. He had torn off security sensors and put on three Polo shirts, each retailing for $69.50, over his own, and exchanged his jeans for a $64 pair of Levi’s.

Friday

At 7:31 p.m., a Milwaukee woman reported that someone had stolen her wallet from her unattended purse at Mayfair Mall. She told officers she had left it hanging on her stroller when she left it with her children in the television area of . She said there had been $340 cash in the wallet.

At 4:32 p.m., a Milwaukee woman reported that someone had fraudulently used her credit cards after she left her wallet behind in at Mayfair Mall. The credit cards were used at , 6700 W. State St., and . At the Sentry, a woman familiar to the store manager was seen on video records making a $354.52 purchase of 18 cans of baby formula and two $50 gift cards and leaving in late-model silver sport utility vehicle. Pick ‘n Save managers said they could not trace the transaction there without more information.

At 1:50 p.m., a 22-year-old Greenfield man was arrested for retail theft at Macy’s at Mayfair Mall after he was seen carrying a shopping bag and entering a fitting room with two pairs of jeans and a shirt, then leaving the fitting room without the jeans in his hands. He was stopped outside the store and turned over the jeans, each pair worth $58. He admitted to police he had made a “bad decision.”

At 12:36 p.m., a West Allis man reported that some time that morning someone had stolen his cell phone while he was at work at at 10111 W. Capitol Dr. He suspected a customer and a possible accomplice who were in the store between 10:10 and 10:20 a.m.

At 12:05 p.m., a Milwaukee woman reported that some time in the past 25 minutes someone had broken into her work van by smashing the front passenger’s side window and had stolen two purses while she was making a delivery in the 2900 block of North Mayfair Road.

Thursday

At 6:52 p.m., an employee at at Mayfair Mall reported that someone had stolen a pair of sunglasses worth $275. A suspect was seen on video taking the sunglasses off a rack in the back of the store and not replacing them.