Police Reports: Woman's Home Ransacked in Break-In

A Wauwatosa woman came home after New Year's Eve to find her home ransacked and a large amount of electronic equipment stolen.

At 12:30 a.m. Sunday, a resident of the 11700 block of West Homewood Avenue reported that some time since 8:15 p.m. Saturday, someone had broken into her home. She had just returned from an evening out and when she pulled into her garage she saw that the door into the house was open.

She went in and found a state of disarray, with her refrigerator and freezer doors standing open, clothes strewn on the floor, couch cushions displaced and pillow stuffing pulled out.

Police found a bedroom window had been shattered. Stolen were two television, a video game system, portable DVD players, game discs, two tablet computers, a laptop computer, a digital camera and all her personal checks from a checkbook, all together worth $9,754.

In other incidents:

Monday

At 10:54 p.m., a manager at , 6950 W. State St., reported that an unknown man had just tried to steal several packages of meat and beer. He was seen leaving the store without paying for the items and ran when the manager called out to him to stop. He dropped two packages of steak and a four-pack of beer, making off with only one other four-pack of beer.

At 3:42 p.m., a Kenosha couple reported that some time since 2:15 p.m., while they were at , 2201 N. Mayfair Rd., someone smashed the passenger window of their pickup truck and stole the woman’s purse with contents worth $2,000. Her credit cards were later used to make several fraudulent purchases.

Sunday

At 10 p.m., a 25-year-old Wauwatosa man was arrested on a warrant from the Greenfield Police Department after he was questioned for being drunk and disorderly at West State Street and North 68^th Street. Police also wanted him for questioning in two eaarlier incidents, an entry to car on Oct. 15 in which only change was stolen, and the burglary of an unlocked garage on Oct. 22, when a snow blower, bike and golf clubs were taken.

At 3:52 p.m., a resident of a duplex in the 6400 block of West North Avenue reported that sometime since 10:30 a.m. someone had broken into the garage behind the home. He had returned home to find the garage door open and signs that it had been pried open by force. He told police that he is a renter and does not have use of the garage and that he did not know what, if anything, might have been stolen. Police were attempting to contact the owner.

Saturday

At 5:49 p.m., a 17-year-old Milwaukee girl was arrested for trespassing at Mayfair Mall after a mall security officer spotted a foil-lined bag in her purse and called police. She had nothing in the bag at the time, but officers found that she had been banned from the mall for five years after a disorderly conduct arrest there in 2010.

At 4:11 p.m., an 18-year-old Milwaukee woman was arrested for trespassing at Mayfair Mall after she was recognized by mall security as a banned subject. She had been arrested and banned for theft in June 2010 and again in September 2011.

At 1:55 p.m., a 28-year-old Milwaukee man was arrested at Pick ‘n Save after he was recognized by store security staff from a picture taken in an earlier theft. When police questioned him, he had nothing stolen in his possession at the time but admitted the earlier theft.

At 12:55 p.m., a 59-year-old Milwaukee woman was arrested at Pick ‘n Save after she was seen concealing and trying to steal two bottles of vodka. She said she had wanted the liquor for a New Year’s Eve gathering and admitted she was “caught red-handed.”

A resident of the 2900 block of North 124^th Street reported that some time since Thursday evening someone had stolen the catalytic converter off his car while it was parked behind his apartment building. He told police he and his wife had several times since Thursday seen a suspicious car with heavily tinted windows cruising the area and in their parking lot, but they had been unable to get its license number.

Friday

At 9:37 p.m., a 15-year-old Milwaukee boy was arrested for prowling and underage drinking after he was spotted trying to enter a locked car in the parking lot at Mayfair Mall. A Tosa police officer inside the Mayfair Public Safety Command Center was alerted to four juveniles outside being loud and boisterous. The officer found them on camera and watched as one of them tried the door of a car, then peered into the rear window. When questioning the boy, the officer smelled alcohol on his breath.

At 8:55 p.m., two Milwaukee men, one 19 and one 21, were arrested for theft at Pick ‘n Save after they were seen in the liquor department and recognized as the same two men spotted on surveillance video each stealing bottles of liquor two days earlier. One of the men concealed two more bottles Friday and tried to leave the store, but both were stopped and arrested.

At 7:57 p.m., a 19-year-old Milwaukee man was arrested at Mayfair Mall for possession of narcotics after an incident with mall security. The man had become upset when he was carded under the mall’s Parental Guidance Rules and had made an obscene gesture, whereupon he was asked to leave and refuse. He was found to have an open warrant from Franklin and, when taken into custody for that, was searched and found to have a bottle containing both Oxycontin and Methdone pills for which he had no prescription.

A customer at ., stepped in to help after a woman stole a bottle of liquor and ran when a cashier tried to stop her. At 6:56 p.m., the cashier called police to report the theft and advised them that one of her other customers, a 54-year-old Milwaukee man, had chased after the woman and demanded she return the liquor. The woman threw the bottle down on the grass, and the customer recovered it and returned it to the store.

At 6:27 p.m., a 19-year-old Milwaukee man and two 15-year-old Milwaukee girls were arrested for theft after they were caught trying to steal $233 worth of clothing. The man was to have a Milwaukee County warrant for failure to appear in court for a number of misdemeanors.

At 3:24 p.m., a 24-year-old Milwaukee man was arrested at , 3201 N. Mayfair Rd., for theft and bail jumping after he was caught trying to steal two video game controllers. The store’s loss prevention officer said that empty game controller boxes had been found all over the store for a week, so he had set up a camera to monitor the electronics displays and saw the suspect opening controller packages. The man told police he is homeless and a heroin addict and had been selling the controllers to feed his addiction. He had been arrested for burglary in December and spent 10 days in jail before signing a promise to appear, but he had not made a court date.

At 10:11 a.m., the manager of the kiosk at Mayfair Mall reported that some time between 9 p.m. Thursday and 8 a.m. Friday someone had cut the tarp covering the kiosk and had taken $364.90 worth of merchandise. Police are treating the crime as a burglary.

At 5:48 a.m., a resident of the 7200 block of West Wisconsin Avenue reported that he believed copper downspouts had just been stolen from his neighbor’s house. He had heard a loud noise and looked out but didn’t see anything. He then went out and found a section of steel downspout in the driveway. When police contacted the homeowner, he discovered two downspouts were missing. He had lost two more a week before and told police he expected the thieves to return for his remaining three.

At 2:21 a.m., a 23-year-old Milwaukee woman was arrested for drunken driving, first offense, after she was stopped on Blue Mound Road at Honey Creek Parkway for a lane deviation. She performed poorly on a sobriety test and registered a .14 blood alcohol content on a preliminary breath test.