Tuesday, September 18, 2012
Couple were unaware there was such a thing as a valet key that came with their car and was waiting in their glove box when a thief rifled it.
- POLICE & FIRE
- Jim Price
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Tuesday, September 18, 2012
These are the things you wish your car dealer would have told you. A Wauwatosa husband and wife learned the hard way what a valet key is and where it was located when they bought their vehicle. A couple, of the 7800 block of West Wright Street, reported Saturday that overnight someone broke into their garage and stole the wife’s car, a 2010 Honda Pilot. They started by saying that on Wednesday, their garage had been entered through an unlocked door and her car, also unlocked, had been rifled. Because of that, they said, they had taken steps to ensure the garage and their cars were kept locked from then on. When the wife came out Saturday morning, the garage door was closed as usual, but her car was gone. Police found that the burglar/car…
Sunday, September 16, 2012
Owner gave up on car and got a new one from insurer, but was there any chance some things belonging to his wife were still around? Yep.
- POLICE & FIRE
- Jim Price
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Sunday, September 16, 2012
A Hartford woman got back some prized property from her stolen car, even though it had been missing more than a month and she and her husband had written it off as a loss. Read on. At 3:10 p.m. Tuesday, a 19-year-old Waukesha woman was arrested for possession of stolen property and obstructing an officer after the car she was driving turned out to be stolen. She was stopped by a Wauwatosa patrol officer for speeding and illegally passing on the right in the 2400 block of Wauwatosa Avenue. A records check of the VIN number of the 2012 Toyota Camry came back with a hit that it had been stolen in Milwaukee nearly a month and a half before. The woman gave police her sister’s name, which was discovered only when the car was searched and her own…
A resident in the Washington Highlands sleeps through home invasion and car theft, but another to the north happens to be awake – and armed.
- POLICE & FIRE
- Jim Price
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Sunday, September 16, 2012
One burglar made off with both of a homeowners' TV sets and his minivan in the Washington Highlands, and another was chased off when he picked a wakeful smoker in East Tosa as his victim. A resident of the 2000 block of Martha Washington Drive reported Wednesday that while he slept, someone had burglarized his home and stolen two television sets. Only after police began interviewing him and asked about any vehicles he might own did he realize that his 2005 Ford minivan had also been stolen, with his keys taken from a rack in his hallway. The victim, 76, said he lives alone and had gone to bed about 9 p.m. and awakened at 5 a.m. He came downstairs and found a light on in his den and then saw that a large casement window was wide open with …
Friday, August 31, 2012
Thirteen-year-old VW Beetles are not among the models most coveted by car thieves. But this one was watched and waited for, then swooped upon. The theft was one of a series of such incidents in Wauwatosa in the last week.
- PUBLIC SAFETY
- Jim Price
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Friday, August 31, 2012
A Wauwatosa woman developed a plausible if unusual theory as to how and why her beloved 1999 Volkswagen Beetle was stolen in the midst of what appears to be an uptick in vehicle thefts in the city. She thinks her car — an unlikely model to be targeted for theft — was the object of a strange crime of opportunity. Her Bug, she believes, was stalked. She had a happier ending than most auto theft victims — she got her Beetle back five days later without any damage done to it. Others haven't been as lucky. As rising reports have surfaced late this summer, many of the autos, if recovered at all, are being found with punched-out locks or broken windows, stripped steering columns and missing ignitions, stereos ripped out and interiors in disarray…
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
Also, a brief roundup of incidents including thefts, a battery and another auto theft from a Tosa resident.
- POLICE & FIRE
- Jim Price
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Tuesday, August 28, 2012
Sunday At 5:45 p.m., two 16-year-old Milwaukee girls were arrested for disorderly conduct after they got into a brawl at Mayfair Mall. Mall security got a report of a loud disturbance and found the two girls wrestling on the floor in front of Viktor Viktoria, screaming profanities and tearing at each other’s hair. They both resisted mall officers and police. One of the girls was also ticketed for trespassing, as she was already banned from the mall for retail theft, and she had an outstanding Brown Deer warrant, also for retail theft. At 7:11 a.m., a 51-year-old Wauwatosa man was arrested for battery after he punched a female employee of the Pick ‘n Save store at 6950 W. State St. for no reason. The woman said she was setting up the deli …
Monday, August 27, 2012
As owner watches in shock, someone steals his Infiniti out of his garage, backs it into his house and drives away.
- POLICE & FIRE
- Jim Price
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Monday, August 27, 2012
It's bad enough to have your car stolen, and right out of your garage, no less. It's another thing all together to watch it happen, see the thief bash it into your house, and be helpless to stop it. At 10:50 p.m. Thursday, a resident of the 2400 block of North 68th Street reported that he had just witnessed his car being stolen out of his garage before his very eyes. He said he had just about to step out his back door to take his dog for a walk and saw his garage door wide open and the headlights and taillights of his car on. The moment he stepped outside, he said, someone driving his car roared out in reverse and rammed into the corner of his house, then took off again. The owner ran to his front door in time to see his blue 2007 Infiniti…
Saturday, August 25, 2012
Leave it running, watch it going. But in this case, man who probably should have turned off ignition and taken his keys gets his car back intact, but thief leaves ample evidence.
- POLICE & FIRE
- Jim Price
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Saturday, August 25, 2012
Leave your car running, even for a minute? Probably a bad idea, but it turned out OK for this guy and maybe for Wauwatosa police if they can match up some obvious evidence. At 10:04 p.m. Monday, a Milwaukee man reported that his car had been just been stolen after he left it running while he stopped in briefly at an apartment in the 7400 block of West Center Street. He said he ran inside for only a minute – but when he came back out, his ride was gone. Police checked the area and soon found the man’s car abandoned in an alley about four blocks away, undamaged, with his belongings strewn about the interior. The thief apparently got nothing of value from the car, but left something of value behind for police – two excellent sets of …
Friday, August 24, 2012
When a witness inadvertently misleads a police officer, the officer inadvertently overlooks a vehicle's stolen status, and while his back is turned, thieves return to steal it again.
- POLICE & FIRE
- Jim Price
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Friday, August 24, 2012
Sometimes things are not quite what they seem, as a well-meaning citizen and a Wauwatosa police officer learned Monday night when at least a couple of car thieves, and maybe as many as four, slipped away in a baffling series of comings and goings. In the end, one vehicle got stolen twice, one got broken into and pillaged, two more remain a mystery, and nobody got caught – even though the last act of the crime was carried out within shouting distance of the police officer. At 10:52, a resident of the Fountains of Wauwatosa apartments, 4726 N. 100th St., reported he was watching a man entering cars in the parking lot. He said he had seen a man walk away from a silver minivan stopped at the far end of the lot and approach another parked …
Thursday, August 2, 2012
While family was out for frogurt, their home was broken into, next-door to where a burglary had already been reported
- POLICE & FIRE
- Jim Price
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Thursday, August 2, 2012
The victim of a home burglary on North 100th Street already reported in Patch was not alone in his woes, it turns out. The next morning, his next-door neighbor discovered his home had also been broken into. At the least, his report gave police a clear timeframe for when both crimes likey occurred. At 7:27 a.m. Friday, another resident of the 4400 block of North 100th Street reported that between 9:20 and 10 p.m. Thursday, someone broke into his home and stole a video game system. He said that during the time noted, he and his family had gone to the Village for Yo Mama frozen yogurt, and when they returned, he found the back door open and a kitchen window raised. The man said he thought his wife had left them open, and he went to bed …
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Heroin addict had numerous used needles and open sores, but allowed herself and her paraphernalia to be handled without saying she had hepatitis C.
- POLICE & FIRE
- Jim Price
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Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Police officers go out every shift knowing they might face all kinds of dangers, including possible gun- or knife-play or being targeted by a speeding car. A Wauwatosa patrol officer learned only after he had handcuffed a woman, handled her intravenous drug kit, helped her into the back of his squad car, taken her to the station and booked her that he was at risk of contracting a serious disease. The woman waited that long to tell him she has hepatitis C. At 1:51 a.m. Friday, the 34-year-old Milwaukee woman was arrested for possession of drug paraphernalia after a traffic stop revealed that she had two outstanding warrants. The patrol officer saw her driving without headlights on Blue Mound Road at North 73rd Street and pulled her over. …
Jim Price
4:34 pm on Sunday, September 16, 2012
Yep, it is, pup. The homeowner certainly has the right to armed defense on his property, and anybody who decides on breaking and entering as a career choice in Wisconsin is taking his chances. But this homeowner's decision to clear the property himself before calling police might have cost the community an arrest. After 15 minutes, the perp was long gone, like a turkey in the corn. Even if you … more ›