Investigators Worried About Rash Of Car & Home Burglaries Across South Florida
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MIAMI (CBSMiami) – Investigators say a thief caught on surveillance video riffling through a car, looking to grab whatever he can, was part of three person crew from Miami.
"They just opened the car doors and went through them. Nothing was broken but they just went through all the cars," said Karen Gaw.
A total of cars were broken into on Karen Gaw's street in Cooper City.
The same thing was happening on several streets nearby.
During the investigation, detectives stumbled onto something surprising – that Miami crew was not the only group of criminals working the area.
"It just so happened we had two separate targets at the same time coming into our city doing what they did," said Broward Sheriff's Office Sgt. Shane Schroeder.
Coincidentally, two groups of thieves were busy at work all over South Broward.
There were the three from Miami, all under arrest, then another group from Hollywood where so far one is in custody.
"When you put both of them together, it equated to 100 vehicles that were broken into, two houses that got broken into and three or four cars that were recovered and stolen," Sgt. Schroeder said.
Those two homes that were broken into really worried detectives. In one case, a mom, dad and two kids were home sleeping – never realizing a crook was just feet away.
"We started being more concerned when these crews started using garage door openers and getting into people's residences," Schroeder said.
Detectives said they believe that entire Miami crew is in custody. As for the Hollywood crew, they believe more are still out there.
If you have any information, contact Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at (305) 471-TIPS and Broward Crime Stoppers at (954) 493-TIPS.