Prowling, Petty Crimes Continue to Hit Highlands

One of the metro area's toniest neighborhoods is by no means immune to crime.

A slew of similar, small-time crimes in the Washington Highlands continued with a vengeance late Sunday through early Monday, as:

• A resident of the 6300 block of Washington Boulevard reported that overnight someone had entered his unlocked car and stolen his laptop computer and his wallet. Some cards from the wallet were recovered in the 1800 block of North 59th Street.

• A resident of the 6400 block of Washington Boulevard reported that overnight someone had entered her unlocked car and stolen change.

• A resident of the 6300 block of Upper Parkway North in the Washington Highlands reported that overnight someone had entered her unlocked car and rummaged through it, but nothing was taken.

• A resident of the 6400 block of Betsy Ross Place reported that overnight someone had smashed a window in his car and stolen an iPod and a GPS unit.

• A resident of the 1600 block of Martha Washington Drive reported that overnight someone entered her unlocked, attached garage and stolen a bicycle.

The crimes seemed to match in which prowlers combed the area seeking unlocked cars and garages. The smash and grab from a locked car on Betsy Ross was the only recent case in which there was a forced entry.

Police and residents became concerned, though, that something more serious could occur, when a prowler was tracked through snow through back yards and up to the windows of some homes.

(Note: Police warn always to securely lock attached garages because a burglar can gain direct and unseen access to the home through the service door.)

Woman twice frightened in her home

Other incidents not far to the south put fear into a woman who was home alone when a man seemingly tried to burglarize her home Tuesday afternoon and then returned Wednesday morning.

At 3:15 p.m. Tuesday, the resident of the 6000 block of Martin Drive called police to report that a car had pulled into her driveway, a man had gotten out, walked to her back door and begun to “vigorously pull on and shake the door.”

Just before she got to the door, she said, he ran back to the car and drove off. She described him as white, 6-feet-1 to 6-feet-2-inches tall, 170 to 180 pounds, with brown hair and a beard.

The woman called police again at 7:53 Wednesday morning to say that the same car had pulled all the into her driveway once more, but had quickly left. In neither case was she able to get a license plate number, but she said it was a late-‘90s model silver Toyota.

Police do not believe those incidents are related to the night prowler cases.

Similar incidents elsewhere

Friday

At 2:23 a.m., a resident of the 4000 block of North 110th St. reported that a man was rummaging through his unlocked car in his driveway. Before police arrived, they were advised that the suspect had fled.

Officers tracked the man through new fallen snow to the parking lot of clinics, 10950 W. Capitol Dr., where the footprints ended at a fresh set of tire tracks.

Following the man’s tracks in the other direction, officers found he had entered one other unlocked car and tried several more locked ones before he was spotted. The homeowner described the suspect as a black man in his 30s, about 6-feet to 6-feet-2-inches tall, wearing a tan coat and a black knit hat and walking with an obvious limp.

Thursday

A resident of the 2600 block of North 96th St. reported that overnight someone had broken into her car by smashing a window. At first she thought nothing was missing, but when an officer suggested that thieves seldom break into vehicles unless there is something of possible value in plain sight, “that got her thinking” and she discovered her purse was not in the home and remembered leaving it on the passenger seat.

Wednesday

A Menomonee Falls man reported that some time between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m., someone had entered his unlocked car and stolen his stereo and an emergency light bar while he was parked at , 10950 W. Potter Road.

Tuesday

A resident of 11500 block of Watertown Plank Road reported that between 5 and 5:10 p.m., someone stole the entire custom exhaust system off his car while it was parked in his driveway.

Sunday

A Burlington man reported that between 9:45 and 9:55 a.m. someone had broken into his car while it was parked at , 2450 N. Mayfair Rd., and stolen his laptop computer and other property.

Feb. 17

A Milwaukee woman reported that between 7:55 and 11 a.m., someone broke a window in her car and stole her purse while she was at work at , 3201 N. Mayfair Rd.

A Waukesha man reported that between 7:45 and 10:27 a.m. someone smashed a window in his car and stole a laptop computer and an air card while he was at work at , 7725 W. North Ave.

Feb. 16

In an incident possibly related to those in the Highlands, a resident of the 1600 block of North 60th Street reported that overnight someone had entered her unlocked car and stolen two portable DVD players.

Feb. 15

A resident of the 2700 block of Lefeber Avenue reported that overnight someone had entered his unlocked car and stolen $5 and two music CDs.