Four or five cars on or near Bridle Lane were broken into on the night of Sunday, Aug. 20, said Lucille Baur, spokesperson for Montgomery County police.
This is a recurring crime in the area this summer. “Every few weeks there have been cars that have been broken into in this area,” Baur said. Cars on Stable Lane were broken into on July 11, and on nearby streets on July 25 and Aug. 2. “It’s every couple of weeks,” Baur said.
Three weeks earlier, 11 vehicles were broken into on one morning on several roads near Potomac Village. (These streets were incorrectly described as being in the Avenel neighborhood in an Almanac article on Aug. 9.) The break-ins included several cars that were locked and in the owner’s driveway.
Three iPods were stolen from three of the cars on Bridle Lane last Sunday, said Anne Killeen, whose family owns one of the cars that was broken into. The car was locked and in the family’s driveway, but an iPod was sitting visible in the car, Anne Killeen said.
“They didn’t touch my other car,” in which no valuables were visible, she added.
Valuables including iPods, laptop computers, purses and GPS devices were visible in most of the victims’ cars in the previous thefts, as well.
“What is attracting these thefts is that the thief can see … items in the car,” Baur said.
Police are asking residents to keep their car doors locked, and not to leave any valuable items in view. “It’s important [to know] that these crimes are occurring, and they are crimes of opportunity,” Baur said.
“I don’t think it was kids, because this was very professional,” Killeen said. Somebody smashed the driver’s-side window of their car and took the iPod without setting off the car alarm. “Nobody heard a thing,” Killeen said. “The dog didn’t even bark.”