Crime: Burglary
The Victim: Bob Chitwood
Date: Wednesday, May 23
Time: Between 11 p.m. and 5:30 a.m.
Place: 5100 block of Swiss
He came unhinged. Literally.
When Bob Chitwood woke up one recent Wednesday morning, he found that someone had taken the hinges off his back gate and helped themselves to his garage contents.
“My fence and gate are 10 feet tall,” he says. “They had to come with the right tools to get in. And they did.”
Chitwood says the gate was locked and chained like it always was. He thought that was enough.
“I never gave it a second thought. I thought there was no way for anyone to get in,” he says.
But there were some screws showing on the hinges from the outside, and the thieves just took them off. Then they went through his back yard to the apartment above his garage that he uses as an art studio. Chitwood had left the door unlocked, thinking his dog would warn him of intruders.
“I have a dog so I don’t really lock the door,” he says. “They must have either scared him or given him a treat, because I didn’t hear anything.”
The thieves took some art supplies and a trumpet that Chitwood was painting, and then made their way to the garage. There they took a mini fridge, a chainsaw, a stereo and some other tools. Altogether, they made off with about $1,200 worth of Chitwood’s property.
“Everything they took seemed to run into the $100 to $200 range,” Chitwood says. “It really started to add up.”
To steal such large items, Chitwood believes it must have taken more than one person, plus a truck and several trips from the garage to the alley where the truck was parked.
His alley used to be made of dirt — it’s been that way for years, Chitwood says. But recently the alleys were paved with concrete. This might have helped the thieves get in and out, and could facilitate future crime.
“I went out there the other day and there were several people just hanging out there, where before there would have been none,” Chitwood says. “It’s turned into a giant sidewalk that no one really pays attention to.”
But Chitwood has taken measures to make sure he won’t be the target of another break-in. He put bolts in his gate hinges instead of screws, and he keeps his garage and studio locked. He thinks everyone should do the same.
“Lock everything up, even if you think it’s safe,” he says. “And go look at your gate and fence to make sure there’s no way to get in from the outside.”
