Two Burglars, Four States, and $750,000 in Property Stolen from Homes

How do two men accumulate a stockpile of $750,000 in stolen property? It takes several years, especially if  the homes they rob are in upscale neighborhoods. Even so, it’s a lot of work. This article from the Wall Street Journal tells the tale:

 

Two convicted felons frustrated homeowners and police for three years during a burglary spree targeting wealthy neighborhoods in four states that yielded an estimated $750,000 worth of goods, Connecticut state troopers said Friday. "It was just amazing," Connecticut State Police Sgt. Wilfred Blanchette said Friday. "Twenty-two years, I've never seen anything like that."

What they Stole

As I’ve posted before, there is remarkable similarity in the items stolen in burglaries across the US. With few variations, you can almost guess what these items are, and what’s described in the report is no different.

Bernard McAllister and Mark Missino appeared to become experts at their craft, making off with jewelry, fur, cash, collectibles, guns and other valuables in at least 88 burglaries along the Interstate 95 corridor in New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts, authorities said.

The Details

Authorities say they found about 100,000 stolen items in a storage unit at the East Lyme Rent-A-Space business, including a $15,000 fur coat, a host of jewelry, paintings and a $5,000 bicycle. They came from homes including mansions in Greenwich and summer cottages in the Niantic section of East Lyme. "There's some really high-end, expensive property that's been recovered," State police Lt. J. Paul Vance said.

This story offers a great reminder - not just about what burglars steal, but also how they gain entry, and what you can do to make it harder. Here are two prior posts that address these topics directly:

• How Intruders Break In
• Top 10 Home Security Tips

While the two enterprising burglars in this story are clearly the exception, based on the scope of their activities, they did get caught – and in the end they were really no smarter than the average burglar who gets nabbed earlier in the process. But with a burglary occurring every 14 seconds in the US, and only one in four or five homes protected by an alarm, the bad guys still have plenty of opportunities. It pays to remember that the home with the monitored security system is three times less likely to be burglarized than the home with no system. And when shopping for the peace of mind that comes from that perfect system, it just makes sense to pick the leader ininteractive, wireless home security for protection that is safer, smarter, simpler, more affordable, and virtually impossible to defeat. And that’s FrontPoint!