5 Burglaries Hit Homes, a Business, Even a Church

Five buglaries were reported over the course of three days last week, hitting three homes, a business and a church. One arrest was made; the others are under investigation.

Boy encounters intruder in home

Police arrested a man for burglary last Sunday after a 9-year-old boy encountered the intruder in his parents' bedroom when he ran inside his home ahead of his family.

The family had pulled in to their garage in the 7700 block of Geralayne Drive last Sunday evening after an outing and the boy jumped out of the car and ran inside first. He went upstairs, saw the stranger, said "Hello," then turned around and ran back down and told his grandfather.

A short time later, at about 6:30 p.m., a 51-year-old man was arrested about a block and half away when police identified him as the suspect based on the boy's description. The suspect had a gold British coin and a gold medallion that belonged to the family. He also matched the description of a man police had been seeking earlier in the day on complaints of a prowler.

Theft of safe from business

At 8:09 a.m. Monday, a Wauwatosa man reported that at some time since noon Saturday someone had burglarized his business, BWN Mortgage, 10425 W. North Ave., and had taken a floor safe containing $6,000 cash and a $1,000 handgun.

He said that when he arrived at 8 a.m., he found wood chips at the door. Police determined that the door had been pried open with a crowbar and, from tire tracks on the floor, that the 400-pound safe had been taken out on a hand truck. The business in on the second floor of the building.

Mother finds daughter's home burglarized

At 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, police went to a home in the 2300 block of North 60^th Street to investigate a burglary reported by the resident’s mother. She had come to check on the house at 9:20 a.m. while her daughter is out of state.

She found the kitchen window screen ripped and the window shattered. She then found her daughter’s bedroom door, which had been locked, kicked in.

Missing were a television set, VCR, Xbox 360 game system and 10 games. The value of the stolen property was $850. The woman said that the burglary must have happened since 3 p.m. Saturday, when she had last checked on the house and found everything in order.

Church safe broken into

At about 8:30 a.m. Tuesday, the church secretary of Our Redemption Lutheran Church, 4057 N. Mayfair Rd., called police to report that some time the night before the church had been burglarized and a safe had been forced open and rifled.

The secretary said he had found the safe removed from his office, where it was kept in a cabinet, and left on the floor in a hallway. It had been forced open and the contents strewn around.

He said his office had been locked when he arrived that morning, but police found pry marks on the door and on the door of the pastor’s office. Officers also found a rear door of the building that leads to a daycare center slightly ajar. All other doors were secure.

A cook who works for the daycare was questioned and said that she had arrived at 4 a.m. and had noticed the safe and contents on the floor and thought it unusual but had not reported it.

Stolen from the safe were $47 cash, 18 Milwaukee County Transit System bus passes, eight McDonald’s gift cards and two Mobil gift cards, all totaling $132 in value. The badly damaged safe was valued at $350, and no estimate of the damage to the office doors was given.

Break-in by brute force

At 11:01 a.m. Tuesday, a resident of the 6200 block of Milwaukee Avenue reported that someone had broken into his home the night before. He told police that he had been awakened by pounding at his rear door, which got louder until he realized someone was trying to break down the door.

He shouted for whomever was there to get out, then went to the door and found it broken open. He checked outside and questioned several neighbors but neither he nor they saw anyone or anything suspicious.

Police determined that the door had been broken in by brute force of a body but they found no other evidence. The report did not say why the resident waited until late morning to report the crime.