abc7.com (Los Angeles) – “Oxnard boy, 12, sexually assaulted in his sleep by home intruder” – January 10^th, 2015:

OXNARD, Calif. (KABC) -- Police in Oxnard are trying to track down a man accused of breaking into a home and sexually assaulting a young boy.

Police said the suspect was able to enter the home through an unlocked back door in the 1300 block of Bluebell Street at around 4:20 a.m. Friday.

The suspect went into the bedroom of a 12-year-old boy and sexually assaulted him while he was sleeping. The boy woke woke up his parents, who confronted the suspect. The suspect then ran off.

The Independent (Gainesville) Florida Alligator – “Police round up: Battery, larceny; aggravated assault; robbery; burglary, resisting officer” – January 6^th:

Police arrested a Gainesville man Sunday afternoon after he broke into his neighbor’s house.

Carnell Hawthorne, 30, entered Samuel Keith’s house, located at 1218 NW 44th Ave., at about 5:30 p.m. through an unlocked door, according to a Gainesville Police arrest report. Keith asked Hawthorne if he was OK and Hawthorne responded, “I’m home, I’m coming in.”

Keith pushed Hawthorne out of his house, according to the report. Hawthorne then hit Keith’s car and ran to his own home.

When police arrived, Hawthorne asked for a second reading of his rights before telling the officer that he was Jesus and had come from the future, according to a report.

www.kvue.com (Austin, Texas) – “Police: Man broke into apartment, left bleach-soaked rags” – January 5^th, 2015:

 

SAN MARCOS, Texas -- Police have arrested and charged a 19-year-old man accused of breaking into a woman's apartment, stealing a nightgown and leaving bleach-soaked rags and a knife in her bedroom.

 

According to San Marcos police, a woman living at the Vistas Apartments, a private student apartment complex near Texas State University, woke up on Nov. 14 to find Cruzeto Rodriguez standing at the foot of her bed. When she asked what he was doing, he said, "You caught me," and ran away. The woman found bleach-soaked rags across her apartment and a Swiss Army knife laid on her bedside table, with the blade pointed toward her head. The woman was not injured.

 

San Marcos Police Commander Kelly Earnest said the victim had left her apartment door unlocked.

 

"If nothing else comes out, please lock your doors. If someone is going through the apartment complex checking doors, make sure they don't find yours unlocked because something like this could happen to you," Earnest said.

www.kfor.com (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma) – “Crime on the rise as temperatures drop; Police warn about ‘puffing’ thefts” – January 2^nd, 2015:

OKLAHOMA CITY – As winter temperatures continue to hit the state, police are warning residents about a crime that is on the rise. Authorities say thieves are taking advantage of the winter weather right now, targeting motorists who leave their cars running to warm up.

On Friday morning, a couple of drivers learned that lesson the hard way.

Police tell us they responded to at least three running car thefts near N.W. 10th St. and Council Rd. on Friday morning.These thefts are the result of drivers leaving the driver’s door unlocked and the keys in the ignition.

There’s a name thieves use for this crime; it’s called puffing. They’ll drive up and down streets, looking for exhaust coming from the muffler of a car.

One minute Butch Chrisley’s car was there, the next it was gone. His wife left their car running and unattended. “They were real quiet about it,” he said. “They didn’t slam the door. I didn’t even hear it take off.”

About a mile away, Juan Vargas’ car is also missing. “Man, I don’t know [who did it],” he said. “It’s been happening lately.”

Officers say you should never walk away from your car with the key still in the ignition.

Butch says the New Year was supposed to be a fresh start for his family.

“We were robbed four times and then the tornado in El Reno wiped us out,” Butch said. “We haven’t given up yet. We’re still fighting.”

If you have any information on these thefts, call police.

 

San Jose (California) Mercury News – “Milpitas crime summaries for the Jan. 2 edition” – January 2^nd, 2015:

$6,100 STOLEN FROM HILLSIDE HOME

On Dec. 20 at about 11:20 p.m., police responded to a residential burglary on the 600 block of Quince Lane.

That evening, someone gained entry into the home via an unlocked side door. Inside, they stole $6,000 cash and $100 in rolled quarters, police said.

No other loss was reported. No suspects are known in this case, police said.

dailymail.co.uk – “Bungling addicts called 911 after they'd been 'trapped' in a closet for DAYS - only for cops to arrive and open the unlocked door” – January 1^st, 2015:

A Florida couple who were high on drugs spent two days believing they were trapped in a janitors closet and eventually called 911 for help, only to be told by police they could have just opened the door themselves.

 

 

Amber Campbell, 25, and John Arwood, 31, were freed - and then arrested.

 

The strange incident occurred at the Marine and Environmental Science Center at Daytona State College on Tuesday.

 

Inside the closet, police said they found feces and copper scouring pads used to smoke meth and crack cocaine, according to The Orlando Sentinel. Police said they smelled meth in the closet. 

 

Campbell and Arwood claim to have been chased into the closet on Sunday.

 

It is not known what they were doing at the facility. The campus was closed for the holidays. It is also not clear why the pair waited until Tuesday to seek help.

 

However Arwood called 911 and told police they were trapped.

 

Police used his cell phone to trace the location and arrived to let the two out.

 

But an officer, trying to understand what had happened, went into the closet and shut the door.

 

The door did not lock.

Weatherford (Texas) Democrat – “Beer-drinking college students arrested for 'exploring' FAA tower” – December 30^th, 2014:

Four young men who police say broke into a building in Snyder County, Pennsylvania early Sunday morning to share a few beers set off alarms all the way in Georgia. 

That's because the building happened to be a Federal Aviation Administration air traffic navigation tower. 

The unlawful entry through what the four college students, one of whom is a West Point cadet, said was an unlocked door triggered an intruder alarm that shut down a crucial aviation aid that allows pilots to follow an assigned flight path.

Though authorities believe the four weren’t trying to disrupt air traffic, an alert of the disruption was received at the FAA's regional office in Atlanta, which notified Pennsylvania state police. 

When troopers arrived, they found the four men, all of them younger than 21, walking away from the tower carrying open containers of beer. So along with felony causing a catastrophe, burglary, criminal mischief, criminal trespassing, the foursome also faces underage drinking charges. 

Though FAA spokesman Jim Peters confirmed that “The entrants did not damage the building or equipment and did not pose a safety risk to any aircraft," they also may face federal charges. 

The Daily Journal (Park Hills, Missouri) Online - "Burglars question homeowner when caught in act" - December 28th, 2014:

 

Crystal City Police caught a brazen burglar and his sidekick on Dec. 16 after the would-be robber challenged the homeowner as to who really owned the home.

It took place in the 2400 block of Hwy. 61-67 just after noon when the homeowner entered the home and found an apparent burglary in progress.

According to authorities, when the owner entered the residence they were confronted by a male subject who actually asked the homeowner what he was doing in the house. The homeowner told him he was the owner and the subject said they would see about that.

The homeowner ran out and called police and when officers responded they saw two men fleeing on foot. They captured both men after a short foot chase.

The suspects, a 46-year Cedar Hill man and a 53-year-old Arnold man, were arrested on suspicion of first-degree burglary, a Class B felony, and misdemeanor charges of trespassing. They were released pending application of warrants.

Authorities reported that there were no injuries and nothing appeared to have been taken. The men entered the house through an unlocked rear door.

www.thedenverchannel.com – “Brazen burglars are hitting Stapleton homes while people sleep; police urge residents to lock up” – September 26^th, 2014:

DENVER - Denver police are warning residents in the Stapleton neighborhood to lock their doors and windows after a string of brazen burglaries where crooks looted homes while people slept.

The burglaries occurred from Sunday into Friday. Police said the targeted area roughly stretches from East 21st Avenue to East 29th Avenue and Syracuse Street to Xenia Street.

"She was actually sleeping on the couch when the person came in the house," burglary victim Jeremy Willius said of his wife.

What did the Willius' household loose? "Three phones, two purses, two sets of keys and our Honda Odyssey," Willius told 7NEWS reported Molly Hendrickson.

"I wish I had kept my windows closed," he added.

Police are urging residents to lock up.

All have involved the owners being present within the homes while burglaries were occurring," the Denver Police District 5 Facebook page says. "These incidents also involved several unlocked front and sliding glass doors to the residences."

"That's scary because burglars are supposed to come when you're not home," said Mike Bibbo, another Stapleton resident. "I used to walk my dog and not really think about locking my door."

The Washington Post – “Secret Service reviews White House security after fence-jumper enters mansion” – September 20^th, 2014:

A day after a man scaled the fence and managed to get inside the front door of the White House, another man was arrested for trespassing after pulling his car into a White House access gate at 15^th and E streets and refusing to leave, according to a Secret Service official.

The latest incident comes as the Secret Service has launched a White House security review into how a man was able to get inside the north door of the mansion Friday night. Authorities say Omar J. Gonzalez, 42, of Copperas Cove, Tex., hopped over the north fence line near Pennsylvania Avenue about 7:20 p.m. Friday, setting off a standard security alarm indicating a breach of the perimeter. Officers demanded that he stop, but he did not respond, and they were unable to reach him on foot before he ran more than 70 yards and got inside the unlocked front doors of the presidential mansion. A guard stationed at the door subdued him.

Officers at the scene considered Gonzalez to be unarmed and likely mentally disturbed, a law enforcement official familiar with the incident said.

www.nj.com – “High on PCP, Jersey City man locked himself in kindergarten bathroom: court docs” – September 17^th, 2014:

The Jersey City man accused of locking himself in a kindergarten bathroom at a Jersey City elementary school while high on PCP made his first court appearance today.

Lamont Clay, 41, of Ocean Avenue, is charged with criminal trespass and being under the influence after he allegedly walked into a trailer housing a kindergarten class Friday morning at Fred W. Martin School 41 on Wilkinson Avenue.

According to a criminal complaint, Clay did “enter through the fence at Public School #41, walk to the kindergarten trailer located in the parking lot, open the unlocked door, walk into classroom trailer and lock himself in student’s bathroom."

Clay was under the influence of PCP as he locked himself in the bathroom, police said.

Clay appeared in Central Judicial Processing court in Jersey City today, where Judge Margaret Marley set his bail at $5,000 with a 10 percent cash option. As a condition of his bail, he must have no contact with School 41.

"I don't know if the teacher had locked the door or maybe the locks don't work properly," Jersey City school board member Marilyn Roman said Friday afternoon. "We need to make sure the trailers are safe for the students."

 

www.nj.com - “Laptops, watches stolen during Jersey City home burglary, police say” – September 7^th, 2014:

A Jersey City couple woke up Saturday to find about $2,800 worth of electronics and jewelry stolen from their home, according to police.

A woman living on Terrance Avenue told police that she went to sleep around 2 a.m. on Friday night, according to police. But when she awoke at 6 a.m. on Saturday, she noticed that the room where her mother sleeps was ransacked and clothes were tossed on the floor, according to police. 

As the woman proceeded downstairs, she found bags strewn across the living room and a screen window in the kitchen wide open, according to police.

The woman then contacted her 57-year-old husband and the two searched the home, according to police. The couple discovered that two laptops and laptop bags were missing, as well as five gold watches, according to police.

The two estimated the laptops, bags and watches at about $2,800, according to police.

Police found no signs of forced entry and believed the front door was unlocked, according to police. 

 

www.cbc.ca - “Boy, 9, steals Saskatoon city bus, hits 2 parked vehicles” – September 6^th, 2014:

No injuries are reported after a nine-year-old boy stole a city bus in Saskatoon and managed to drive it for a couple of blocks Saturday morning.

Police say the bus was stolen from the bus garages on 300 block of 24th Street West, near downtown.

CBC reporter Steve Pasqualotto was driving south along nearby Idywyld Drive toward downtown when he looked over and saw the child at the wheel of the bus.

The boy eventually stopped at the corner of Idylwyld Drive and 25th Street, after getting the bus hung up on the curb.

Police say the boy hit two vehicles — a parked city bus and another parked car — but no one was hurt.

Since the boy is 9-years-old police cannot lay charges.

Officers have confirmed he was taken home and is now with his family.

According to city officials, the stolen bus was being repaired on Saturday when it was stolen.

Jeff Jorgenson, General Manager of Transportation & Utilities Department, said he and other officials have reviewed a video tape that captured the incident. Based on this footage, Jorgenson explained that the bus had been left running by a maintenance person when the boy entered the bus and stole it.

"This is a case, from what I've seen, [where] policy and procedures were very clearly violated," said Jorgenson. "Buses are not to be left in that condition."

Jorgenson said typically buses must be left in a secured state. He explained that none of the steps had been taken to secure the bus, making it easy for the child to drive away with the bus.

"This is a case where safety protocols were violated," Jorgenson said, as he explained that the door was left unlocked, and the boy entered the bus with ease and started driving the bus a short time after entering it because the bus was not secure.

motoringcrunch.com – “Tesla Model S Hiccup Lets You Unlock Doors Remotely” – September 1^st. 2014:

The Model S from Tesla, the electric car, comes with many vulnerabilities that allow the car door to be unlocked and provides access to various controls of the car, said researchers. The flaw means that someone could activate such as the horn, lights and roof through remote control.

Tesla have been told about the bug and those who found it said that it can only be manipulated via high tech manoeuvres and it can be remedied by simply deactivating the remote access function of the vehicle.

The security company who found the issue have been the first to come across the security issue with Tesla cars. However this isn’t the first time that Tesla have come across issues as in March it was found that electric cars of theirs could be located and unlocked thanks to a six character password that could be used remotely.

www.nj.com - “Kearny man punched 74-year-old Lyndhurst man in robbery attempt, police say” – August 31^st, 2014:

A Kearny man broke into a Bogle Drive home Friday and struck one of its 74-year-old occupants in a robbery attempt, police said.

Police charged Evanalain Sieberkrob-Hershman, 24, with robbery, burglary, three counts of aggravated assault, hindering apprehension, criminal restraint and possession of a hypodermic needle.

A 74-year-old woman told Lyndhurst Police that a man entered her home through an unlocked rear door, Capt. John J. Valente said in a press release. The man grabbed her and demanded money.

The woman's husband, also 74, tried to intervene but the man struck him in the head, Valente said. A 50-year-old relative living upstairs came down after hearing screams for help.

The man pushed her aside as he fled toward Riverside County Park, Valente said.

Police searched the park, where a witness reported seeing someone matching a description provided by police, Valente said. The witness said he saw the man walking north through the park toward Riverside Avenue.

Police arrested Sieberkrob-Hershman in a parking lot on Riverside Avenue. He was trying to remove clothing, apparently to avoid being recognized by police, Valente said.

He was sent to Bergen County Jail in lieu of $420,000 bail.

The 74-year-old man was released from Meadowlands Hospital after treatment for face and head injuries, Valente said.

The Pocono (Pennsylvania) Record - “Pocono Mountain Regional Police Commission investigation kept from public” – August 24^th, 2014:

The Pocono Mountain Regional Police Commission hired an attorney last year to conduct an investigation of then-chief Harry Lewis that eventually cost $56,053, without approving it at a public meeting, records show.

Now, the commission is withholding the report based on a privately executed agreement signed with Lewis and his lawyer.

The department responded to a Right-to-Know request this week for the invoices from Philadelphia attorney, Neil A. Morris, hired to conduct the investigation. Coolbaugh Township commission representative Bill Weimer revealed the investigation for the first time earlier this summer, estimating it cost $50,000, while demanding to see a copy of the resulting report.

Lewis, whose last day was Aug. 8, left his handgun in an unlocked department vehicle at his Allentown-area home the night of May 19-20, 2013. Two teens who were allegedly going through unlocked cars in the area were accused of stealing it before one sold it on the streets of Allentown.

A series of invoices on "Chief Harry Lewis (Lost Weapon Issue)" starting in July 2013 shows Morris began billing for hours July 8 and continued through Dec. 12. In that time, Morris' then firm Archer & Greiner billed 213.7 hours of work. The department spent $27,606 in October alone investigating.

Lewis denied he was disciplined after what he said in early November was an "internal review" that was thorough and concluded.

Police commission representative and Coolbaugh Supervisor Juan Adams has said Lewis was punished, but has not specified how. Officials have not confirming the discipline question, calling it a personnel matter exempt from disclosure.

Minutes reviewed throughout 2013 do not show any motion to approve hiring the attorney. The department last week also denied a Right-to-Know request for a record of the commission's approval because the records do not exist.

"There are no minutes of executive session meetings of Pocono Mountain Regional Police Department," the denial said in explanation.

Police Solicitor Harry Coleman has not responded to several requests for comment, but commission chair Jim Frutchey said he sees no problem with the executive session decision-making.

But the two closed-door decisions to hire an attorney and sign the agreement with Lewis are problematic, said Kim de Bourbon of the Pennsylvania Freedom of Information Coalition.

"Public boards cannot take votes on official action behind closed doors. Period," de Bourbon, a former Pocono Record editor, said by email. "Sometimes courts have allowed so-called 'straw polls' in executive session, as long as official votes are made in public."

De Bourbon said the investigation could be viewed as internal because it was conducted by the commission with outside help, not by state or federal agencies.

Melissa Beven Melewsky, media law counsel at the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association, said both executive session decisions indicate compliance problems with the Sunshine Act.

Without disclosing private personnel issues, the commission should have acted in public, she said.

"They have to give the public enough information to determine whether or not they want to comment," she said.

Lake County (Illinois) News-Sun – “Police: Burglars target garage door openers for home access” – May 29^th, 2014:

Gurnee police have put out a Crime Alert warning residents of a residential burglary trend in which thieves target unlocked cars and grab garage openers to enter the home.

Two recent burglaries on the northeast side of the village have followed that plan, according to Gurnee police. In one case, the car was stolen, too.

"It’s unique,” said Tom Agos, the department’s crime prevention specialist.

The incident in which the car was stolen hasn’t been solved, but police did recover the vehicle in Waukegan.

In each case, a garage door opener was taken from an unlocked car parked outside to gain entry into the garage and then into the home, police said. The doors between the garage and home were left unlocked. Both cases happened overnight while the residents were home asleep.

“It seems elementary, but both crimes could likely have been thwarted had the parked vehicles been locked,” Agos said.

www.yourmoney.com – Blog: Don’t accidentally invalidate your home insurance – by Adam Powell, May 23^rd, 2014:

Few of us think we'll ever fall victim to burglary yet it's an issue that a surprisingly high number of people have faced.

According to recent research, one in 10 of us has had our home burgled. More alarmingly perhaps is that one in three people admit to leaving doors unlocked when they leave the house and six per cent hide spare keys near their front door.

While some may think leaving doors unlocked is a trivial action, by not securing your property efficiently, you'll not only risk burglary, you'll also risk invalidating your home insurance.

If there is no evidence of a forced entry and it appears a burglar strolled in through an unlocked door, your home insurer may refuse to meet your claim. They might say you failed to take appropriate measures to properly secure the property and therefore deem your policy invalid.

Associated Press – "Donor, ex-boyfriend: GOP Senate hopeful stalked me" - May 18th, 2014:

PORTLAND, OREGON (AP) — A millionaire former boyfriend who’s now bankrolling ads against her opponent called the police last year on Monica Wehby, the leading Republican candidate in Oregon’s U.S. Senate race, and accused her of stalking him as their relationship broke up.

Timber company executive Andrew Miller told a Portland police officer on April 4, 2013, that Wehby “had been ‘harassing’ his employees and ‘stalking’ him,” according to a report the officer filed.

Wehby did not address the issue in a debate with Conger in Portland on Friday, and she ignored questions from reporters as she and her staff left out a side door.

Wehby has excited Republicans in Washington, who are impressed by her resume and are hopeful she can raise enough money to make her competitive against Democratic incumbent Jeff Merkley, despite Republicans’ longstanding struggles to win statewide races in Oregon.

Authorities got involved when Miller called police to say Wehby wouldn’t leave his house, according to the report. An officer spotted Wehby’s Mercedes leaving Miller’s neighborhood and pulled her over.

She told the officer she’d been in a relationship with Miller for two years but that something changed over the weekend and he’d stopped talking to her or returning her calls, according to the police report. She said she’d visited his house, and when he didn’t answer, entered through an unlocked back door. The officer told her to go home and not to return to Miller’s home unless she was invited.

Miller said he and Wehby remain friends, but their relationship is over.

 

The Daily Breeze (Torrance, California) – “Burglars creep into two Manhattan Beach homes while residents sleep” – May 5^th, 2014:

Burglars slithered into two Manhattan Beach homes as their residents slept in the middle of the night over the weekend, prompting police on Monday to encourage potential victims to lock their doors and windows at night.

Residents in neither of the homes knew a crime had occurred in the neighboring rooms until they awakened in the morning, Manhattan Beach police Officer Stephanie Martin said.

“The scary part is that you are home asleep and you have no idea somebody is wandering around inside your house,” Martin said. “Unnerving is an understatement when you think of that. And completely terrifying when you wake up and find someone in your home. It’s very scary and very concerning.”

The first crime occurred sometime between 2:45 and 8:45 a.m. Saturday in the 4400 Block of The Strand. Police determined the burglars entered through an unlocked sliding glass door. The residents said the thieves took an iPhone, a wallet and car keys.

The second crime occurred sometime between 5:30 and 10:15 a.m. the same day at a home in the 200 block of Shell Street. Police believe the burglars entered through an unlocked door and took an iPhone, a computer, keys and other personal items.

Police don’t know if the bold burglars targeted the houses or hit them by chance because they were unsecured.

Police throughout the South Bay have cautioned residents for years that they can reduce crime by simply locking their homes and automobiles.