Police Reports: Two Tosa Churches Hit by Burglars

Two Wauwatosa churches were burglarized last week, in each case with the perpetrators able to enter the buildings without force and then breaking into locked offices.

At 7:30 a.m. Monday, the office manager of , 2366 N. 80^th St., reported that overnight someone had pried open the door to the church office and several drawers in her desk. Petty cash was stolen.

An officer checking to see how the burglar might have entered the building found that an outer door opened easily even though it had been locked, and he was told that the lock sometimes malfunctions in cold and damp weather.

At 6:15 a.m. Wednesday, the administrator of , 1511 Church St., reported that someone had tried unsuccessfully to pry open the door to the church office Tuesday evening or early Wednesday morning.

Fresh pry marks were found on the office door and there were wood chips and shavings on the floor. No sign of forced entry to the building was found, and nothing had been taken.

In other incidents:

Wednesday

At 1:40 p.m., a resident of the 12300 block of West Dearbourn Avenue reported that some time while she slept, between 3 a.m. and 12:30 p.m., someone had entered her home and rifled her purse, stealing 50 Oxycodone pills, some cash and two winning lottery tickets worth $14. She said that the back door had been unlocked after 7 a.m. when her brother and daughter had left for work and school.

At 1:16 p.m., a patrol officer was flagged down by a construction worker who had found two credit cards and a driver’s license discarded in some shrubs at his work site at 3850 N. 124^th St. The cards belonged to a Union Grove woman who had reported them stolen Tuesday while she was at Froedtert Hospital. The credit cards had been used to make several fraudulent charges totaling more than $600.

At 12:20 a.m., a 31-year-old Wauwatosa woman was arrested for possession of marijuana after a patrol officer stopped to check on her welfare after noticing she had been parked with her headlights on for more than 20 minutes in a parking lot at 11205 Blue Mound Rd. When she rolled down her window, the officer smelled marijuana and saw that she had a pipe in her hand. She was found to have 2.52 grams of marijuana.

Tuesday

A 14-year-old staying at the Carmelite Home for Boys, 1214 Kavanaugh Pl., was arrested twice in the same day, first for disorderly conduct for fighting with staff over a banned cell phone, and later for battery after he punched another boy and then fled from the home.

At 5:30 p.m., a Brookfield woman reported that she had just had an encounter with a man who had stolen a bag of knit hats from her car. She told officers she had just gotten off work at Jimmy’s Island Grill, 2303 N. Mayfair Rd., and had put the bag in her back seat, then had gone back inside to get a friend who was going to get a ride home. When she came back out, she saw a man in the parking lot holding a bag that looked like hers. She checked and found her bag missing, followed the suspect up the sidewalk and shouted at him, but he ran. She lost a Milwaukee Brewers cloth bag and the 20 knit hats that were inside it. She described the thief as a black man 30 to 40 years old, from 5-feet 7-inches 5-feet 10-inches tall, weighing 220 to 250 pounds, with “scraggly” facial hair and wearing a black knit hat and a brown coat.

At 5:15 p.m., a resident of the 7300 block of West State Street reported that some time since 8 a.m. someone had tried to break into his apartment. Trim around his door had been pried loose and fresh pry marks were found around the deadbolt. No entry was made and nothing was taken.

At 4:35 p.m., a resident of the 4500 block of North 109^th Street reported at the police station that he had just discovered that someone had entered his car, overnight he believed, and stolen his laptop computer, GPS and other items totaling $1,866 in value. He said he had locked his car but no sign of forced entry was found.

A resident of the 7400 block of West Wright Street reported that some time overnight someone had entered her unlocked car in her driveway and stolen a violin worth $750 out of the back seat.

At 12:09 a.m., a 36-year-old Wauwatosa man was arrested for drunken driving, first offense, after a caller complained of a reckless driver on North Mayfair Road near West North Avenue. Police spotted the car in the parking lot of , 2290 N. Mayfair Rd., and administered a field sobriety test to the driver, which he failed. He registered a .18 blood alcohol content on a breath test.

Monday

At 8:48 p.m., a 22-year-old Wauwatosa woman was arrested for possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia after a traffic stop in the 8100 block of Blue Mound Road. The patrol officer discovered that she had two prior drug arrests. When he asked whether Addy, the department’s drug-sniffing K9 officer, would be likely to find anything, she produced a small bag of pot she had hidden in her bra.

At 8:35 a.m., a resident of the Fountains of Wauwatosa apartments, 4718 N. 100^th St., reported that someone had broken into her car while it was in the parking garage and tried unsuccessfully to steal her stereo. Police found that a prying tool such as a screwdriver had been used to break the front passenger window.

A Burlington woman reported that her car had been broken into while it was parked overnight at , 11111 W. North Ave., and a GPS unit had been stolen. Her front passenger window had been smashed.

Police are seeking a known 24-year-old Wauwatosa man with an address in the 6900 block of Harvey Ave. after he ran from the store, 6700 W. State St., where he had been seen stealing a bottle of liquor. He was seen running to the house on Harvey Street, where his roommates told officers he had locked himself in his room. He would not come out of the room, and without a warrant, officers could not enter. The suspect is on probation and has 10 prior criminal charges on his record, all in Waukesha County, including retail theft, disorderly conduct, resisting arrest, bail jumping, battery, underage drinking and possession of marijuana.