Crime Report: Police Encourage Residents to Report Suspicious Activity

Burglary Auto
Sept. 16, overnight
11700 block of Raintree Village Boulevard
Unknown subjects entered an unlocked 2001 Daewoo and took a beeper, according to Community Service Officer Tracy Mishler of the .

Burglary Residence
Sept. 16, sometime between 10:45 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.
12900 block of Rain Forest Street
Unknown subjects used a crow bar to pry open a side door leading into a garage and left the crow bar in the street, Mishler said. They took four laptops, a flatscreen TV, a video came, a digital camera and some jewelry.

The suspects left the home by opening the garage door and leaving it open, Mishler said.

At about 11:15 a.m., a neighbor saw a white panel utility-type van parked in front of the victim’s home, Mishler said. A neighbor across the street had just had some major air-conditioning work done on the home and many utility vans were coming and going during that repair.

Suspicious Person
Sept. 19, 11:12 a.m.
Capwood Avenue and Bellhaven Street
Officers responded to a suspicious person call in the area of Woodland Ridge Drive in the River Run/Terrace Ridge subdivision, located off Temple Terrace Highway and North 78th Street, Mishler said.

A male subject knocked on the front door of a home and ran when a large dog was observed in the home, Mishler said. He also was observed walking from the front area of another home on Woodland Ridge Drive.

“Obviously the subject was ‘casing’ homes,” Mishler said.

A resident of the area followed the subject and called police, Mishler said. Officers found the subject in the area of Capwood Avenue and Bellhaven Street. The subject has a history of burglary and other crimes.

“Good job by our residents,” Mishler said. “A crime was likely stopped by an observant resident who quickly contacted the police.”

Suspicious Person
Sept. 21, 5:09 p.m.
7900 block of Capwood Drive
Two residents reported a suspicious person going door to door soliciting for money for a sick child, Mishler said. Officers came into contact with the female, about 5-feet-2-inches tall with blonde hair and an 11-year-old child.

In late 2010, the same female was also going door to door soliciting money for the same reason in Temple Terrace and Tampa, Mishler said. Her younger son does have an illness and she does receive assistance for her son’s medical care, but she may be scamming for other reasons, he said. She may be driving an orange Isuzu SUV.

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At the City Council meeting Sept. 20, Councilmember David Pogorilich asked Police Chief Kenneth Albano to let people know that it’s OK to call the police if they see something suspicious.

“One of the biggest questions I get asked by people day in and day out—almost weekly—is what can they do to help reduce the crime in the area even though , and I always tell them, ‘If you see something wrong, call the police,’” Pogorilich said. “And there’s an inherent nervousness about people wanting to do that because (they think) ‘Well, what if I’m wrong,’ or ‘What if it wasn’t anything?’”

Albano said it’s better to be safe than sorry. He suggested residents get to know their neighbors, and call police if they see something that they suspect is off.

Residents aren’t bothering police by making a call, he said; that’s what they’re there for.

“What’s the worst that can happen,” Albano said. “An officer makes contact; it happens to be your neighbor’s relatives in from New York or Texas. No harm, no foul. We make contact with them, we identify that there’s no issues, we’re back in service. It takes a few minutes.”

Many times, he added, residents see suspicious activity, don’t call the police, and the activity turns out to be a crime.

“So, please, call,” he said. “Absolutely call.”

Recent Scams

Mishler said he has had two reports of Temple Terrace residents having their email accounts hacked. The hackers send out an email using the resident’s email address so the recipient thinks the email came from the resident. The email advises the recipient that the resident is out of the country and needs money.

“These are scams,” Mishler said. “Please be aware of them.”

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In early August, an 83-year-old Temple Terrace resident received a phone call from Canada advising her that she had won $800,000. The caller told her she would need to send the company $900 in fees to collect the winnings, Mishler said.

Over the weekend, the resident received a check in the amount of $2,900 in an envelope sent from Canada. The resident was supposed to deposit the check and send $900 to the company by Western Union, Mishler said.

“Fortunately in this case, the victim contacted the police department and, of course, the resident was advised that this was a scam,” Mishler said. “The scammers keep ‘phishing’ for victims by telephone, the mail and through the Internet.”