June 8, 2007
Cairo -- Investigators have few leads on a string of burglaries in rural Grady county. But with seven break-ins since May 31, investigators are definitely seeing a pattern. They believe the same two individuals are targeting homes that are out of sight, during the daytime, while the homeowners are at work.
So far the homes targeted in the burglaries have been off Lower Hawthorne Trail, in the southern part of Grady county.
"I've got every available man right now in the south end of the county, and also I don't doubt that they could hit the north side, or east or west side," said Grady County Sheriff Harry Young.
Investigators think by burglarizing homes out of sight, the thieves can drive right up, kick in the front or back door, and rummage the house. They've stolen laptops, stereos, and DVD players, but their chief target is guns.
"If you've got used equipment, a lot of people don't want used equipment, they may pick up one or two. But you go trying to sell a gun to someone, if it's a nice price they're gonna buy it," said Young.
Pawnshops are a likely place to try to sell stolen goods but what thieves might not know though is many local pawn shops work closely with law enforcement. "We turn in a report every Monday morning to an investigator," said Michael Pearson of America's Pawn. "Everything that's pawned sold, anything that comes through here is in the report, everything."
If someone reports stolen items, police can possibly match them to ones sold to the pawn shop, where they keep detailed records of everything. "What it is, what the name brand is, serial number, model number who it came from, their address, everything about them," said Pearson.
"I advise everyone who has a gun, have a serial number and the type gun, and take a picture of it so you have something, so when we make a case on it we have something we can look for," said Young.
And that goes for anything you own with a serial number. Precautions taken before hand can make your odds a lot a better of getting your stuff back if you're ever a victim of burglary.
Investigators say so far, none of the guns or anything else stolen have turned up. If you see anything suspicious or have someone trying to sell you a gun you don't know anything about, the sheriff says get as much information as you can, and don't hesitate to call 911.
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