Thief Targets Vehicles In South OKC Neighborhood

A thief was caught on camera trying to break into multiple vehicles in a south Oklahoma City neighborhood near Moore. Neighbors say each vehicle was located within a two mile stretch of 89th between Sooner and Bryant, and all of them were in the driveway.

“My husband woke up in the morning and went to the truck to get something out of there and realized it had been ransacked,” says Melea King.

Another woman who lives on a nearby block says the man appeared to have a weapon and could be dangerous.

“He was carrying more than one item,” says Lisa Hutchins. "We saw the Mag Light, originally, which makes sense, considering the damage to my vehicle. He used landscape bricks from people's front porch and took it back out to the street and hit their cars."

Oklahoma City Police confirm they are working seven auto burglary cases around this neighborhood, but it’s still early in the investigation. Victims say the break-ins began sometime between Saturday night and Sunday morning. Surveillance provides times between 2:30 a.m. and 4:30 a.m. Within about 24 hours of the discovery, videos began to surface online from some of the victims.

“We saw him approach the vehicle and open the door,” King says, "and immediately start going through our change and everything in the truck."

Hutchins says a few of her neighbors also had the thief in their driveway but haven't reported it. In some case, thief got away with a minimal amount of money or didn't bother with a locked door.

“I've had a lot of people say that's it's been non-stop in the last year and it's just getting worse and worse,” Hutchins says.

Still, many plan on upping their security and hope the person pictured in their surveillance tape doesn’t show back up.

“I think the violation in privacy and knowing it can happen to you is the scariest thing,” King says.

If you have any information about the case, you’re asked to contact Crime Stoppers.