HUBER HEIGHTS — Hundreds of dollars worth of belongings were stolen from several cars parked at a busy Huber Heights park this week and officers are working on tracking down the suspects.
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Police were called to Tom Cloud Park off Brand Pike in Huber Heights Monday night after at least four vehicles were broken-into and items stolen, Huber Heights Police Sgt. Brian Carr told News Center 7 Thursday.
Carr said all the victims had something in common, either left their doors unlocked or left belongings in plain sight. Some cars had windows smashed out, while others just had doors open.
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Police are calling the thefts a “crime of opportunity.”
“It was crowded, there was softball and baseball games going on. So all the cars were left unattended once they go to their activities,” Carr said.
Hundreds of dollars worth of stuff was stolen from the cars including a computer and cash.
“We had a MacBook Pro that was stolen. We had a purse that contained several credit cards, checkbooks, Kohl’s gift cards and about $400 to $500 was stolen as well,” Carr told News Center 7′s John Bedell.
Some area parks have been recent targets for thieves to target parked cars with a similar case happening in Kettering earlier this year. Carr added Five Rivers MetroParks has also contacted Huber Heights police about a rash of this crime.
“At this time, we’re not really sure if it’s connected,” Carr said.
Protecting yourself from becoming a victim of this crime is normally easy, Carr said, make it more inconvenient for a thief to target you.
“Usually the simple tricks work: lock the car, put the item in the trunk, put the item underneath the floorboard where nobody can see it as their walking by,” Carr said.
So far only four people have filed police reports, but others might not know that they were targeted. If you were at Tom Cloud Park Monday, and you’re missing stuff from your car, you’re encouraged to call Huber Heights police to file a report.