Police Reports: Even Amateurish Burglary Attempts Are Unsettling

One burglary and another attempted burglary Saturday night occurred some distance and at least a few hours apart but could have been related given similarities of unprofessional method. The second incident was particularly unnerving because the residents were home in bed at the time.

A resident of the 12200 block of West North Avenue called police Sunday to report “suspicious circumstances” she had found when she had returned to her apartment about 9:30 p.m. Saturday – some things seemed out of place, such as the harmonica she found on her bed that had been inside a dresser drawer for the past 35 years.

Indeed, police discovered that her apartment had been burglarized. Someone had pried a screen loose, then pried opened her unlocked living room window, leaving dirt and debris inside and footprints in the snow outside as calling cards. All that was stolen was two jars of change from a shelf in her bedroom.

A resident of the 4100 block of Menomonee River Parkway also reported Sunday morning that some time overnight someone had tried to break into her home by pulling out a screen and then trying to pry open a kitchen window. She said she had left her purse on the counter near and in clear view of the window, and that might have been the target.

A safety clip installed on the window kept it from being raised more than a couple of inches. She thought the attempt might have been made around 11:30 p.m. because she and her husband heard their dog begin barking loudly at about that time for no apparent reason.

In other incidents:

Sunday

A Wauwatosa woman reported that at about 11 a.m., as she was driving on Milwaukee Avenue near Ridge Court, she saw three boys about 12 to 14 years old walking in the street and hitting parked cars with their hands. As she passed them, she said, she heard a loud bang and saw that her passenger side mirror had been broken. She stopped and saw the three boys running off toward Lincoln Elementary School.

Saturday

At 11:28 p.m., a resident of an apartment in the 9900 block of West North Avenue reported that some time since 4:30 p.m. someone had broken into her car while it was in the parking garage. The front passenger window had been smashed and rifled her purse, which she had left on the front seat. She reported a loss of jewelry, eyeglasses and cash totaling more than $8,000.

At 4:58 p.m., an 18-year-old Milwaukee woman who was employed as a clerk at at was arrested for theft after it was found that she had passed merchandise to an accomplice without demanding payment. The accomplice, a 32-year-old Milwaukee man, was also seen stealing a watch, and he was stopped just outside the store and searched. The other items in his possession implicated the clerk. Security video showed the man giving her four items for purchase, but she scanned only one and bagged them all.

At 3:22 p.m., an 18-year-old Milwaukee woman was arrested for theft at in Mayfair Mall after she ripped the security sensor off a shirt and tried to steal it.

At 8:45 a.m., a resident of the 2700 block of North 73rd Street reported that some time overnight someone had smashed the driver’s window of her car while it was parked in her rear drive off an alley. There was nothing of value in the car and she found nothing missing. The police report noted that another resident of the block had been the victim of the same crime a week before.

At 7:37 a.m., a 27-year-old Milwaukee man was arrested for drunken driving, first offense, after a caller reported him passed out behind the wheel of a car parked in the 7200 block of St. James Street. Officers found the engine running, and when they woke the man he said he had had too much to drink and decided to sleep it off in his car rather than drive, and that he regretted starting the engine. He performed poorly on a sobriety test and blew a .11 blood alcohol content on a breath test.

Friday

At 10:48 p.m., a 19-year-old Milwaukee man was arrested for theft at at Mayfair Mall after he stuffed a sweatshirt and a pair of pants down his own pants and tried to leave the store.

At 9:08 p.m., an 18-year-old New Berlin man reported that he had been followed to Mayfair Mall and punched repeatedly through his open car window in a likely case of road rage. He said that as he was driving to the mall on North Mayfair Road, he saw a car coming up behind at a high rate of speed, so he changed lanes intending to get out of the way. But the following car changed lanes at the same time, forcing its driver to slam on his brakes. The car followed him into the mall parking lot under the , where the battery occurred.

At 6:58 p.m., an 18-year-old Milwaukee woman was arrested for criminal damage to property after she was heard popping the sensor tags off merchandise in a fitting room at in Mayfair Mall. She was detained and the four items of clothing, upon examination, proved to be ruined. The store reported the loss at $126.

At 4:45 p.m., a 31-year-old Milwaukee woman was arrested for theft at , 3900 N. 124th St., after she tried to leave the store without paying for almost $200 worth of toys and baby food. The woman, who had no prior arrests, told officers she was “desperate” to have food and gifts for her children.

Residents of the 7900 block of West Wright Street and the 7600 block of Livingston Avenue both reported that some time overnight someone had entered their unlocked cars and stolen various property left inside. The owner of the car on Wright Street reported later that he had traced his missing iPod to a neighborhood in Greendale through its built-in GPS system.

At 2:24 p.m., a 15-year-old Milwaukee girl was arrested for theft at Macy’s at Mayfair after she tried to leave the store with three pairs of jeans worth $104.97 concealed in a large purse. A 42-year-old Milwaukee woman with her, who at first claimed to be the girl’s mother but later proved to be unrelated, was found to have a valid felony warrant for probation violation and was taken to jail.

A Brookfield woman reported that while she was having lunch at at Mayfair someone stole her wallet from her purse while it was briefly unattended and used her credit cards to make two $1,000 purchases at Walmart stores before she discovered the loss and canceled them.