Break-in flurry hits East Arlington neighborhood

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -

There has been a rash of home and car break-ins throughout a well-to-do area of East Arlington.

About 50 thefts have come all within a six-month period, according to a crime map from the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office. Homes and cars in the Waterleaf community and surrounding neighborhoods have been targeted.

Broken glass blankets Maximilian Robles' backyard, and scratch marks cover his walls where his flat screen TV used to hang.

"It happened in the middle of the day and nobody saw anything, nobody even noticed," Robles said of his home being broken into.

Two days ago, Robles said, thieves shattered his backdoor and broke in. They stole two flat screen TVs, 3 Xbox systems, a laptop and an iPod. And they gave Robles a huge headache.

"All the paperwork I have to fill out, find out what was actually stolen," he said. "And my wife is deployed right now. She had to find out while she's deployed."

That same day in the same neighborhood, thieves broke into Ted Pangan's Chevrolet Tahoe and stole his laptop.

"I was pretty upset because other than it was my work laptop that had some information on there for work that I needed in order to do some work, but it also had some personal things on there as well," Pangan said.

A few doors down, a pregnant woman's GPS and wallet were taken from her car.

In fact, within a mile radius of her house is where the more than 50 car and home break-ins have occurred over the past six months.

Neighbors think heavy construction in the Waterleaf community is drawing crime.

"People tend to drive by the new construction and see what may be out in front of the new construction or what they may be able to take that's not being monitored while it's under construction," Pangan said.

Residents admit to seeing strange cars in the area, and that's when Channel 4 crime analyst Ken Jefferson says they should call police.

"In today's times, you can't just mind your own business," Jefferson said. "You've got to mind your business and your neighbor's business because you've got to watch out for each other."

Jefferson also recommends investing in a security system.

"That doesn't stop a person from coming in, but it will definitely slow them down because when that alarm goes off and they know that it's just going to be a few minutes before police arrive, they are not going to stay in your home very long," Jefferson said.

Robles took that advice and got an alarm system installed Friday.

Jefferson also said that residents planning on going on vacation can call JSO and let it know when they'll be gone. And if JSO has time, it will send an officer out to check on the residents' home while they're away.