Crime & Safety

Police Reports: One Home, Many Vehicles Broken Into

Couple on Gridley Avenue loses a lot of belongings, but suspects are seen on video using their credit card.

On Jan. 10, a resident of the 8300 block of Gridley Avenue reported that some time between 9 a.m. and noon someone had broken into his home and stolen property eventually reckoned to be worth $18,355.

He at first noticed only an iPad and a laptop computer missing, and when his wife arrived she found many pieces of valuable jewelry gone. They later discovered cash, credit cards and a camera also were stolen.

Police found that the burglar or burglars had removed a screen and forced open a window to break in.

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A credit account check revealed that a card stolen in the burglary had been used at a number of locations that morning. At one, a Citgo gas station in the 6000 block of West Fond du Lac Avenue in Milwaukee, video surveillance footage showed two men making a fraudulent purchase of gas with the stolen card and also going inside the store and showing something inside a box to a cashier.

In other incidents:

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Saturday

A Brookfield woman reported that sometime between 12:30 p.m. and 2:13 p.m. someone broke a window out of her car and stole her Apple laptop computer while she was at , 8700 Watertown Plank Rd.

A sales associate for reported that the kiosk had been burglarized overnight and that cash had been stolen. The kiosk had been properly locked down with a heavy tarp and combination locks at 9:15 p.m. Friday, she said. There was no sign of forced entry. Video surveillance footage showed a possible but unidentifiable suspect standing next to the kiosk at 10:09 p.m.

At 2:34 a.m., a 32-year-old Wauwatosa man was arrested on an outstanding Milwaukee County warrant after a resident of the 2100 block of North 68th Street called police to say that the man was drunk and falling down in his driveway. Police found him staggering toward the back of the caller’s house and learned that he was going home and picked the wrong house. The police report did not say what the arrest warrant was for.

Friday

At 9:33 p.m., a security manager of , 8220 Harwood Ave., reported that some time during the day someone had stolen cash from a resident’s room in the assisted living center. Police had investigated a number of such incidents recently at Harwood, and it is suspected that the thief is an employee. Friday’s incident was an attempted sting, in which the manager persuaded a resident to plant cash in his room that had been sprayed with a marker chemical. Several employees with access to the room were checked for traces of the marker with no results.

A Waukesha woman reported that some time between 5:45 and 6:45 p.m., someone entered her car and stole an Apple laptop computer worth $1,700 while she was at Mayfair Mall. She said the computer was concealed and she was sure she had locked the car, but police could find no sign of forced entry.

A Wauwatosa woman reported that some time between 5:30 and 7:30 p.m., someone had smashed a window in her car at Wisconsin Athletic Club, 8700 Watertown Plank Rd., and stolen a bag containing medical files and her cell phone.

At 7:40 p.m., the manager of AMF Bowlero Lanes, 11737 W. Burleigh St., reported that three cars had been broken into that afternoon, including one owned by a New Berlin woman, who lost two backpacks containing nothing but promotional materials after her window was smashed. Video footage showed a man prowling around the victims’ vehicles and a minivan that matches one seen in previous car break-ins at Bowlero. Police are investigating crimes there in October, November and December as related and likely committed by the same actor or actors. No reports were available on the other two cars broken into Friday.

A 44-year-old Brookfield woman was being sought after she tried to pass a stolen check at , 4100 N. 124th St. at about 5 p.m. She also presented a stolen ID card which did not match her appearance, and she left quickly when the check was refused. Police were able to identify her and learned that she is on probation. A search of her residence turned up evidence of credit card fraud and drug paraphernalia used in smoking crack cocaine.

Thursday

Managers at ., reported that an internal investigation had revealed that a known suspect, a 35-year-old Milwaukee man, had passed a counterfeit check there in December for nearly $1,750. Similar counterfeit check frauds by the same suspect and known associates were committed Dec. 15 and 16 in Brookfield (2), Elm Grove, Greendale and Greenfield, as well at least one other location in Wauwatosa.

Nine traffic accidents were reported to police between 2:39 and 7:08 p.m. during Thursday’s snowstorm, with no injuries requiring medical assistance. Two were reported as hit and runs.

Jan. 11

At 11:48 p.m., a 20-year-old Milwaukee man was arrested for possession of marijuana after a traffic stop in the 3600 block of North Mayfair Road. The man was a passenger in a car driven by a 19-year-old Wauwatosa woman. She handed over a glass pipe and admitted both had been smoking pot but denied having any more. Her passenger denied having even smoked any but a search revealed a baggie containing 2.82 grams. He then apologized to police for lying.

At 4:42 p.m., a 15-year-old Milwaukee boy was arrested for criminal damage to property after he threw a rock at and damaged a car parked at Stroh Diecasting, 11123 W. Burleigh St. The owner of the business said he had been sitting in his office when he saw the boy walking through his lot throwing rocks, and he called police and followed the boy after he saw one of them hit his car.

At 4:22 p.m., two 17-year-old and one 16-year-old girls, all from Milwaukee, were arrested at Mayfair Mall, two for trespassing and one for possession of stolen property. They were part of a group of five youths considered suspicious by mall security officers, who thought they recognized some of them as banned. They were seen putting a large amount of merchandise in the trunk of their car, and police pulled them over a short distance away. Police found merchandise from four stores at Mayfair, one at Southridge Mall and more thought to be from Burlington Coat Factory in Brookfield. The total retail value of the merchandise was nearly $1,600. All five admitted they had been arrested before for retail theft, but only one of the 17-year-olds could be connected to the Mayfair thefts.

Jan. 10

At 6:43 p.m., a 25-year-old Wauwatosa man was arrested for theft from an auto in the 8400 block of Kenyon Avenue after a resident went out to his truck to find the man sitting in it. He asked the suspect what he was doing and he admitted he was searching for loose money to buy cigarettes. He then jumped out and ran, but the 42-year-old owner of the truck ran him down across the street, tackled him and held him for police. He had stolen some prescription medication from the truck and police found a backpack nearby with the pills, several items of women’s jewelry and a used marijuana grinder. Police said that he made statements implicating him in two other unsolved incidents, and he had been arrested on Jan. 1 on an outstanding warrant after he was reported as being drunk and disorderly.

At 5:35 p.m., a 23-year-old Wauwatosa woman was arrested for theft at at Mayfair Mall after she concealed and tried to leave with $220.50 worth of merchandise.

A resident of the , 7500 W. North Ave., reported that some time between 1:15 p.m. and 3:45 p.m., someone stole a $600 television set and a blanket from his room while he was with his wife playing cards in a common room. Surveillance video taken at the main entrance showed the burglar entering the home at 2:42 p.m. and leaving eight minutes later. A witness also saw him leaving with the TV. While he was inside the building, he covered his face to conceal his identity from interior cameras.

At 11:20 a.m., a 24-year-old Milwaukee man was arrested for theft after loss-prevention officers at at Mayfair received information from Plato’s Closet retail shop in Brookfield that an unusually large amount of women’s Free People brand clothing was being brought in, all of it new. Macy’s is one of only two retailers in the area that sells the brand. Macy’s security began monitoring the brand area and saw the man in the women’s department selecting a lot of Free People merchandise quickly without regard to price or size. He was stopped trying to leave the store with 11 brand items of clothing and three pieces of jewelry, all together worth $1,731 retail.

A Milwaukee woman reported that between 8:45 and 10 a.m. someone broke a window in her car and stole her purse while she was at the , 2400 N. 124th St., then used her credit card to buy gas before she discovered the theft and canceled the card.

Jan. 9

At 7:06 p.m., a 21-year-old Wauwatosa man was arrested at his residence in the 2100 block of North 66th Street for possession of drug paraphernalia after his family called 911 to report that he had overdosed on heroin. The man’s mother said he was an addict who had been clean for a year but had been having trouble over a girlfriend. She heard a loud thud from upstairs and found her son curled up on the floor and sweating profusely. When paramedics and police arrived, he was conscious. A syringe and other paraphernalia were found in the room.

A 22-year-old Milwaukee woman was arrested for theft after her managers at , 6804 W. North Ave., discovered she had been stealing from the business by voiding out transactions and pocketing cash. This happened 23 times on Jan. 6 for a loss of $137.97. She returned to work Monday and was arrested at the gas station.

At 11:54 a.m., a 16-year-old Milwaukee boy was arrested for theft and criminal damage to property at Boston Store at Mayfair Mall after he was caught trying to steal $727 worth of merchandise, then got into a fight with store security officers and knocked over and destroyed a mannequin worth $2,500. Two other suspects escaped from the store and fled the mall in a car.

A resident of the 2100 block of North 83rd Street reported that some time overnight someone stole his van from his driveway. The keys to the van had been taken from another unlocked vehicle in his drive. The van was found early Tuesday morning in the 2700 block of North 48th Street in Milwaukee with no apparent damage and the keys still in it.


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