Got Burglarized, What Should My Next Steps Be?

Recently, my home was burglarized. We have an alarm system and pad lock on our garage door entrance which is the main entrance we use. Oddly, they came 4 times; once on the 29th of March, next on the 4th, then on the 8th and 9th of this month. My Xbox One got stolen on the 29th, PS4 stolen on the 4th, iPad Air and my brothers Xbox One on the 8th and my brothers sunglasses and they moved my TV from on top of a shelf to the floor of my bedroom on the 9th. They also tried busting into my brothers in wall safe (this is my brother with the sketchy overseas business) that absolutely no one except family knew about). For what it's worth, my iPad has 4G capabilities and is in lost mode but it's offline - I'd assume they took the SIM card out. On the 10th, we called the police and an investigation was started. We were questioned and had a decent idea of who it was.
Backing up to the 9th, the last burglary, my neighbor whom I've never met or talked to before saw an older car pull up to her house and a guy in a white shirt and jeans walk towards my house. Unfortunately, she didn't see if he walked out with anything. Going forward - the next day we get fingerprints collected. They don't find anything. A couple days later, my brother gets contacted from an old friend who has a history of stealing, just not from us. He told him he was fired from CVS, his place of work, for stealing cartons of cigarettes and that he's strapped for cash. We call the police and tell them ASAP, we give all the information we have on him: full name, phone #, Facebook... Just no address as we don't know where he lives exactly. The investigation is still ongoing and we have them collecting fingerprints tomorrow morning on my TV to see if they could find any matches. My main question is what should we do next? Wait it out? Could we get him for circumstantial evidence? Also, if found guilty, will he have to pay us back if the stuff was sold, which I assume it was? There have been no visits since the 9th. Our neighbor is willing to testify for us. Any advice is appreciated. Value is approx. $2k.

mobilehaathi said:

Oh man, where to begin....

This will be good; I can feel it.

.....

Did your alarm go off any of those times?

Click to expand...

I forgot to mention, we didn't arm the alarm until the 9th which explains why they didn't take the TV. It's a 30 second or 1 minute window. We usually don't arm it, it's just there as a deterrent.

maflynn said:

A couple of things.
First why did you wait until the 10th to call the police when you were first robbed on the 29th? Most people I know would be on the phone the second they see their house ransacked. Its completely counter to human nature. Plus if you file for an insurance claim the insurance company will want the police report.

Secondly did you tell the police you were robbed previously and did not call them until multiple robberies.


You do realize that the majority of people who have alarms don't arm them and that that thieves know this. Seeing a sign on the lawn that you have an alarm is not that great of a deterrent, especially if you were already robbed.

I'd look to be a little more disciplined in setting the alarm at night or when you go out.

Click to expand...

Trooper is searching for fingerprints now. Reason I didn't call the police earlier is because I honestly thought my brother did it and was strapped for cash. Then he got robbed so it didn't add up. They only seem to come by when no cars are at the house, which is why we set up a surveillance system. Why they came 4 times instead of taking things all at once? No idea.

----------

kilcher said:

4 times in 2 weeks?

1. Buy a gun if you don't have one already.
2. Take a week off of work and stay home.
3. Wait.

Click to expand...

We have hidden security cameras around the house now that detect motion for that exact purpose. Plus they haven't stopped by in over a week.

----------

DougFNJ said:

First of all, good luck! Most important thing is nobody got hurt, and nobody was waiting inside, or violence did not occur. I have a friend whose sister in law got robbed, she walked in and the thief was in her closet, knocked her down and bolted out......same deal...nobody got hurt.

You unfortunately have no choice BUT to wait it out. Police have already been called, and names were given. If you confront the individual and it turns bad, you could get in trouble as ridiculous as it sounds.

If the stuff is not recovered, call your insurance company. Don't put in a claim yet, be inquisitive first. Question 1 is if you put the claim in, would you lose your claim free discount, and could you be surcharged? If so, it could cost you more than the claim pays out which would not be worth it. If you Deductible is $1000, don't bother as it will most certainly cost more in premiums. Another important question is, the fact that there were multiple occurrences, would it be considered one claim or multiple? In that case the deductible would apply multiple times and multiple claims would almost assure cancellation of your policy, and being that it would show up in your claims history, good luck finding insurance elsewhere.

I hope this all helps, I wish you good luck again.

Click to expand...

Thanks. We already thought of an insurance claim, unfortunately the deductible is $2500, which makes no sense to use. From your experience, did you get your property back or reimbursed for it? Or did the guy just get time if he couldn't pay it back or something (if they ever found him)?

iBlazed said:

Oh well that's totally normal then. My sister burglarizes my house all the time when she's cash strapped.

----------



Just did. I see squilly gets scammed and has things stolen from him fairly often. Makes you question one's sanity...

Click to expand...

This is the first time I've gotten burglarized. Still, if it's this guy I think it is, can he be harangued for circumstantial evidence?

----------

Apple fanboy said:

So you have an alarm, but don't use it. You get robbed, but still don't use it. You get robbed again but you still don't use it. You then have another robbery, and you think to call the police?

I don't understand. When I got robbed (had an alarm and it was set). I installed extra locks and slept with a baseball bat (we don't do guns in England).

Oh and I called the police that evening. I didn't have insurance then as I was poor. Didn't have much worth stealing either though!

Click to expand...

We don't think the guy is violent, we think it's someone we know and let into the house before. First instinct was to call the police and they told us not to set the alarm so it doesn't "alarm" the person when they walk in.