Burglar Enters Back Door While Woman Tends Flowers in Front

A Wauwatosa woman got a rude awakening when her phone rang while she was gardening – and she learned that a credit card she hadn't use for years was showing up all over Milwaukee.

The credit card had been in her purse, and her purse had been in her house. She had been in and out, in front and in back. But while she was in front, someone had gone in the back door and stolen her purse from inside the house.

At 6 p.m. May 29, the resident of the 2300 block of 63rd Street reported the burglary and said she thought it had happened since about 3:30 p.m., while she had been in and out as she cared for her yard.

She had just gotten a call, she said, from her bank asking her about transactions on her Discovery card at gas stations in Milwaukee that afternoon. She thought that odd and disturding, because she had not used that particular card for years, much less there and that afternoon. So did the company.

She looked around and found her purse was missing, and realized that she had left her back door unlocked while she puttered around her yard, and that someone must have come in the back while she was in front.

She soon learned that her US Bank card had also been used fraudulently, and then she called police.

Unfortunately, officers and detectives could find no evidence at the scene or at the various places the victim's cards were used.