This burglary actually has a happy ending.
Karina Brewster’s children had just returned from school, hopped on their bikes, and headed for the local park. The kids pedaled off, and the Brewsters’ garage door was left open for a brief period while they were gone.
A short while later, Brewster was notified that a neighbor’s home had been broken into through a window. She went outside and noticed a suspicious man running down the alley. Meanwhile, police cruisers and a police helicopter patrolled the neighborhood for suspected robbers who had already broken into area homes.
Brewster did not realize it, but she had also been a victim.
Police later informed her that stolen property had been stashed in a ditch near her family’s Lakewood North Estates home. Sure enough, she was able to recover a chainsaw, lawn equipment, and her husband’s gold clubs, a total value of $1,250. The burglaries and police chase took place within about an hour, Brewster says.
“Everything got recovered,” she says. “The police officer told me three [burglars] were working together, so they were in cahoots.”
Brewster is ecstatic that her family’s belongings were recovered and that police were on the scene so quickly to track the thieves.
“It made me feel a little bit safer,” she says.
Officer Mitch Gatson with the Dallas Police Northeast Patrol Division says crooks often stash stolen items to retrieve them later at a more convenient time. He confirmed that three suspects were arrested in the case, and may be responsible for similar crimes. The department asked to withhold the names of those arrested as the police continue to work on the case.
“The arrestees may be tied to other offenses, and releasing their information may compromise other investigations,” Gatson says.
Gatson adds that it is also common to retrieve stolen items and return them to the victims, “although offenses may have different circumstances.”
