CAUGHT ON VIDEO: Man breaks into Catonsville home and steals thousands of dollars

BALTIMORE - A burglar broke into a Catonsville home and stole thousands of dollars, all while the homeowners were sleeping earlier this month.

The family's home surveillance cameras caught the thief in the act.

Property owner Ahmed Javaid initially suspected the thief to be one of his roommates.

But, he checked the footage from the number of cameras on the property.

"When we started analyzing what could've gone wrong, it wasn't even in our wildest dreams that someone could've done something like this," Javaid said. "He came halfway through my property at the time and he made a U-turn."

The footage showed a man enter through the back around 6:50 a.m. on Dec. 15.

While inside, the video shows him looking around and using his phone screen as a flashlight.

He was at the home for less than 15 minutes.

But before he took off, he walked into one of the rooms, while the victims were sleeping, and stole cash.

No more than two days after Javaid's roommates were burglarized, a Vietnamese Buddhist Temple on the same street was also hit by a burglar.

Baltimore County police said someone broke in through the back and stole from a donation box.

Police have not said if these two robberies are connected.

Javaid has lived in Catonsville for more than 10 years. He told WJZ he never thought he'd see this happen, let alone at a property he manages.

"Sometimes you get a bit too comfortable in your own space," Javaid said.

With the burglar still on the loose, Javaid wants to see him caught, mostly because he doesn't want to see a neighbor deal with what he and his roommates have.

"God knows what he was capable of, so we don't want any other neighbors getting in harm's way," Javaid said. "We want to make sure he's accountable for what he did."