Auto Burglaries Around Lake Hefner Pick Up Over Weekend

Crime is picking up near and around Lake Hefner. About a dozen people were victims of a string of car break-ins over the weekend.

Monday, May 19th 2014, 7:26 pm

By: News 9


Crime is picking up near and around Lake Hefner. About a dozen people were victims of a string of car break-ins over the weekend.

The Lake Hefner area was packed with many people on the trails and thieves in the parking lots doing a string of smash and grabs.

"These people they were busy on Friday night, I guess the weather was good enough for them to go stealing, but they didn't want to go exercise," theft victim Sherri Grubbs said.

Grubbs said she was enjoying a beautiful evening bike ride at Stars and Stripes Park when it took an ugly turn.

"Well, we pull up as we're coming back and there are people standing around the truck, which was odd and I said what happened? And they said you've been hit, and I have never been a victim of a burglary in any way shape or form, and then I saw a piece of his window underneath his truck, they had just broken it and covered it," Grubbs said.

She said thieves broke out a back passenger window to get her purse that she hid underneath the driver's seat. Grubbs' purse, wallet, checks, pocket book and clothing were stolen while her boyfriend's wallet and checkbook were sitting in the front seat.

"But the joke was on them, because I had no money in my purse, not one dollar," Grubbs said.

"I'm surprised, there are so many people out there, people going by at all times," said Grubbs. "We would never park anywhere that was isolated, and so that's what surprises me."

Grubbs is one of several victims who had their cars broken into near Lake Hefner.

"It appears wallets, purses and several things were obviously taken, it's possible that the same suspect or suspects are responsible for all of these incidents," Oklahoma City Police Sgt. Jennifer Wardlow said.

Grubbs heard from police that some stolen items were found inside a dumpster at 70th and Santa Fe, so she went dumpster diving for three hours and not only did she recover some of her things, she found a lot of other people's belongings too.

A bag of jeans, shoes, shirts, checkbooks, a citation and even a baby picture were trashed in the dumpster.

"I like Lake Hefner, I've always felt pretty safe, but this has happened multiple times in the past also, seems to be a problem out there, but i don't think it will deter me from not going," Grubbs said.

Police say they have calls for about 43 auto-burglaries in the past year in the Lake Hefner area and urge everyone to never leave valuables in the car and to make sure all windows are up.

Police don't have any, but one victim said she saw a young male suspect with a blue shirt get away in a Nissan Maxima.

If any items Grubbs found in the dumpster belong to you, her email is stenogrfr@aol.com.

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