Police Reports: 2 Boys Caught Red-Handed After Garage Burglary

Two Milwaukee boys, 13 and 15 years old, were arrested Thursday for burglary after a woman alerted police that she had seen them loitering near her apartment in the 9600 block of West Hampton Avenue just before two cell phones were stolen from her car.

She said they had been hanging around the entrance to the apartment building's parking garage, which has a slow-closing door. She had parked her car and left it, then returned a few minutes later and found the phones were missing.

Suspecting the two boys, she called police, who stopped them based on her description three blocks away and found one of the phones on each of them.

The 15-year-old was recognized as the subject of a flyer distributed by the Wauwatosa Police Detective Bureau for involvement in multiple burglaries and car entries in the area.

He was also being sought on a warrant as a missing juvenile by the . He, therefore, was sent to the Juvenile Justice Center, while the 13-year-old was released to his mother with a date to appear.

In other recent incidents:

Thursday

A teacher at , 1500 Wauwatosa Ave., reported that someone stole her wallet out of her purse and then used her bank card to make two fraudulent purchases totaling $324.12. She said she knew the wallet was in her purse on her desk when she took her 4-year-old kindergarten class out for the rest of the day at 11, and it was gone when she returned at 3:30. School officials have a suspect in mind.

A resident of the 7700 block of West Clarke Street reported that overnight someone entered her unlocked car in her driveway and stole $5. In a no-doubt related incident, a resident of the 7900 block of West Clarke Street reported that someone entered his unlocked car and stole his wallet, containing two credit cards and his driver’s license, from the center console.

A foreman at , 12000 Wirth St., reported that overnight someone cut the lock off a storage container behind the business and stole four propane tanks.

Wednesday

An accountant at the new Walmart Market store, 3850 N. 124th St., reported that she had found three counterfeit $100 bills used in transactions on July 30 and Aug. 30. She told police that she had alerted the store manager and loss prevention but they had apparently not known or settled on a standard operating procedure for reporting counterfeits.

A resident of the 4700 block of North 103rd Street reported that overnight someone entered three unlocked cars in his driveway and rummaged through them, but nothing was taken.

A resident of the 2600 block of North 70th Street reported that overnight someone smashed a window in his SUV parked in his driveway and ransacked the interior, but nothing was taken.

A resident of an apartment in the 12100 block of Blue Mound Road reported her car, a blue, two-door 2002 Pontiac Sunfire, stolen from the lot behind her building. She said the car had been left unlocked and the key was under the front seat.

Tuesday

A resident of the 8800 block of Stickney Avenue reported that overnight someone entered his unlocked garage and rifled his car inside, which was also unlocked. Stolen from it were a laptop computer, its bag and charger, a business calculator, his prescription sunglasses, a GPS unit, a radar detector, a camera, $60 in change and $20 worth of stamps.

A manager at Freight First Corp., 11500 W. Burleigh St., reported that some time since Saturday morning someone had stolen the catalytic converters off of six leased trucks in the company’s fleet. The leasing company reported the value of the converters as $4,000 apiece.

Monday

At 3:47 a.m., police arrested an 18-year-old Elm Grove man for underage drinking and possession of marijuana after a caller reported him entering a vehicle in the 2400 block of North 85th Street. He was found in the back seat of a van, but it turned out to belong to his brother and he was in it legally. However, he was obviously intoxicated and blew a .246 blood alcohol concentration on a breath test.