Police Reports: Boys' Bike-Stealing Foray Ends Badly (For Them)

Two Milwaukee boys, one 14 and one 15, were arrested Monday for two garage burglaries in the 6200 and 6300 blocks of Upper Parkway North in the Washington Highlands.

The victim in the 6300 block called at 6:22 p.m. after she heard an unknown voice from outside, on her driveway. She looked out from an upper window to see a boy riding down the drive on her bicycle.

She ran downstairs and saw the boy riding away south with another boy running along behind him, and she shouted at them.

She said her neighbor came out to see what the commotion was, and after learning about the theft, checked her garage and found her bike missing also.

Another witness, a neighbor across the street, said he had just earlier seen three boys on foot.

While they were all speaking to police, another officer called to report that he had stopped two boys on the stolen bikes at North 55th and West Vine streets in Milwaukee.

The boys admitted to the theft and said they had gone to the Highlands because it is a “nicer” neighborhood where they expected to find good bicycles.

They also said there had been a third boy with them, but they identified him only by a first name. They said they did not believe he had stolen a bike, although he had intended to, and probably escaped on foot. No other thefts were reported.

Because they had entered garages to steal the bikes, the two youngsters were not merely ticketed and released to their parents but rather were sent to the Milwaukee County Juvenile Justice Center with recommended charges of burglary for their records.

The bicycle's owners went to the scene of the arrest, where their property was promptly returned to them.

In other recent incidents:

Thursday

A Wauwatosa boy who works at the reported that during his shift, between 5 and 9 p.m., someone stole his unlocked bike from the rack outside the building. He said he didn’t lock the bike because he was in a rush, not wanting to be late for work.

Wednesday

At 3:28 p.m., a 19-year-old Milwaukee woman was arrested for retail theft at in after she was caught trying to steal $320 worth of clothing. She had gone into a dressing room, carrying a diaper bag and her infant daughter in a car seat, and an unknown accomplice brought her the merchandise. After she left the dressing room carrying no clothing, a store security officer checked it and found none left behind. She was stopped and searched, and found to have three shirts and a bra concealed in a foil-lined bag inside the diaper bag. A dress was found hidden underneath her baby daughter in the car seat.

Tuesday

At 7:31 p.m., two Milwaukee girls, one 16 and one 17, were arrested for retail theft at , 3201 N. Mayfair Rd., after they were seen stuffing merchandise into their purses and then tried to leave the store without paying.

At 2 p.m., a Milwaukee woman reported that her wallet had been stolen out of her purse while she was carrying it at in Mayfair Mall. She said that while she was reaching up to look at some clothing, a woman came up to her and stood next to her, brushing against her. As soon as the woman walked away, the victim looked in her purse and found that her wallet was gone. She tried to follow the suspect, but she disappeared into the mall. She described the woman as black, 20 to 30 years old, 5-feet to 5-feet 3-inches tall, about 140 pounds, with short black hair.

Monday

At 5:46 p.m., police were called to Macy’s at Mayfair to arrest a 15-year-old Milwaukee boy who was in custody at the store for retail theft. A store security officer had watched as the boy three times went to a fitting room with two pairs of jeans and came out with only one. He was stopped when he tried to leave the store wearing a total of four pairs of jeans, only one of them being his own.

A Milwaukee man whose son attends reported that between 12:30 and 2 p.m., while the boy was in a summer school class at East, his bicycle was stolen from a rack there. The bike was not locked.

At 12:08 p.m., a Derry, NH, woman reported that her wallet was pilfered from her purse at her side while she and a friend were eating at at Mayfair Mall. She said she knew she had the wallet because she had just paid cash for her lunch from it. She and her friend then sat to eat along the windowed west side of the restaurant, and when they finished, she notice the wallet was missing. She did not see who might have taken it, and the store has no video surveillance covering that part of the restaurant.

At 8:36 a.m., police were called to the . on a report of an attempted theft of about $300 worth of perfume. The manager told officers an employee opening the store had found a bag of perfumes on the floor, and when he checked video footage from the night before, saw that a man had somehow opened the locked perfume case without force and bagged $300 worth of items. He had then unaccountably dropped the bag and left. The manager was concerned that the man might somehow have gotten a key to the case.

At 8:14 a.m., a resident of the 2700 block of North 75th Street reported that he had found a red bicycle in his back yard, and while waiting for the police to arrive on that matter, he discovered that his pickup truck had been ransacked. Nothing was missing from the truck.

Last Sunday

At 8:24 p.m., police were called to Kmart, 3201 N. Mayfair Rd., on a report of employee theft, and arrested a 20-year-old Milwaukee woman. Managers suspected her of two incidents of letting customers pass through her checkout without paying for merchandise, and when confronted, she admitted it, they said. Video evidence showed that on July 3, the woman had checked out a man and woman purchasing an air conditioner and other items, together worth about $250, and charged them only $9.95. On July 5, she allowed another purchase of about the same value in merchandise for only $18.16.