NewsWest 9
MIDLAND - It's something that seems to be all too common in the Permian Basin; home invasions, burglaries, and robberies. According to CrimeMapping.com, there's been more than 100 in Midland since the beginning of the year, and a lot of them are happening in broad daylight. "Daytime burglaries are common because I mean a lot of the burglars know people are at work," Sgt. Jimmy Young said.
"You know a lot of people know that they are going to be gone normally from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and burglaries only takes about 6 minutes."
One resident who spoke to NewsWest 9 last week says he's gotten broken into once every month since February, and the third time, he caught him on camera. Another homeowner, who wanted to remain anonymous, lives just a few blocks away and says the same thing happened to her.
"It's not so much the fact that he took from us, it's just the fact that he broke into our house," she said.
She says much like the last victim, her back door was kicked in and the suspect took petty items such as video games and tennis shoes. However, he also stole jewelry, including her wedding bands.
"A lot of stuff they can take it, pawn it, trade it. A lot of times it's for narcotics, you know to feed their habits," Sgt. Young said.
Three days after the break-in, she saw a man similar to the one in surveillance footage outside of her house. She says he was holding video games and looked like he was in a rush. After she called police, she found the games inside of a dumpster.
"If I can zoom into that I can guarantee that was him," she said.
She has since bought a security system and surveillance cameras. Midland Police say if cameras aren't an option, something as simple as knowing your neighbor could save you the headache.
