EDMOND, Oklahoma -
Car burglars are
hitting several Edmond neighborhoods and they're working fast. Police
report more than two dozen burglaries in just the past two days.
Doran Markley woke
up Wednesday morning to a call from police. They were outside his house in
the Timber Ridge neighborhood.
"We left our car
out in the driveway for the first time all summer and, coincidentally, my wife
left the door open," said Markley.
Thieves took advantage
and stole a GPS and couple other things right out of his vehicle.
"I got to thinking
‘Why were we singled out?'" said Markley.
It didn't take him
long to figure out he wasn't. The same thing happened to neighbors up and
down his street. Police say they believe a group of young men between 13
years old and their early 20's are behind the crimes.
"They usually have
a friend that drives them in, let's them out anywhere in the neighborhood. They
usually carry a backpack or some kind of duffel bag," explains Edmond Police Capt.
Tim Dorsey.
The suspects then
walk down the street pulling door handles and looking for unlocked
vehicles. Once they find one, they steal what they can, put it in the bag,
then move to the next car.
"You see anybody
strange in your neighborhood late at night, don't wait," said Dorsey. "Call
us immediately. Let us get some guys out there and see if we can find them and
see what's going on."
Police are hoping
the public can help them catch the group. Edmond typically has 500 car
burglaries a year. It's their most popular crime.
In the past two
days police report car burglaries in the Timber Ridge, Coffee Creek, Clayton Pond,
Windmill, Whispering Creek, Fox Lake, and Old Towne neighborhoods. There have
also been burglaries on Douglas Boulevard between 2nd and Danforth,
the Sooner and Sorghum Mill Neighborhood, Kickingbird Apartments and Spring
Creek apartments.