Police: Burglars Targeting For-Sale Oakland County Homes
FRANKLIN (WWJ) - Burglars are targeting specific homes in several Oakland County communities.
That's according to police in the Village of Franklin who are investigating a recent string of break-ins at vacant, for-sale homes in the area of 14 Mile Rd. between Telegraph and Inkster roads.
Dan Roberts, who serves as police chief for Franklin and Bingham Farms, says the thieves are stealing large kitchen appliances — believe it or not — such as refrigerators and stoves.
"They clearly knew what they were doing because they had to shut off power, shut off gas in order to safely remove those appliances," Roberts said.
"And they had to spend some time there, too," he said. "I mean, it's not simple to remove that kind of equipment and take just a couple of minutes. They had to have been in there awhile."
Roberts told WWJ's Zahra Huber that there is a connection between the homes.
"(It is) clearly listed online and in other venues in terms of what was in the homes and what wasn't at the time they were attacked," Roberts said.
Roberts says they're looking into similar break-ins in the area.
"We do know that our partners around us — such as the city of Southfield to our south and Bloomfield Township to our north — they also have experienced some burglaries as well," Roberts said. "My detective is working with their detectives to see if there's any commonalities between their burglaries and ours."
Roberts said residents should be on the lookout for large trucks or vans, and call police to report suspicious activity — especially around vacant, for-sale homes.
