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Highlands Today

'Tis The Season To Lock Your Doors

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By BRAD DICKERSON

Highlands Today

Published: December 9, 2008

SEBRING Vedah Lindsay is a stickler for making sure her possessions, whether at home or in her car, are always under "lock" and key.

"I don't take no chances," she said.

Recently, others have gambled with leaving their doors unlocked, and the figurative house ended up taking a cut.

The latest incident happened Sunday, when officers with the Sebring Police Department responded to a Lakeview Drive residence at 3:40 a.m., in reference to a stolen 2006 Ford Explorer.

Eventually, Cory Vincent Roque, 21, of 730 Lakeside Drive, Sebring, was arrested and charged with burglary of an unoccupied structure while unarmed, burglary of an unoccupied conveyance while unarmed and vehicular theft in relation to the crime.

The owner told authorities he had last seen the vehicle at 1:30 a.m., parked in his carport on his home's south side, according to the arrest report. He stated he thought the Explorer was locked, but the spare key was lying in the floorboard by the driver's seat.

Police searched for signs of broken glass or other evidence from the scene, with no success.

Then, when traveling northbound on U.S. 27 North, an officer spotted a Ford Explorer traveling southbound that matched the one that was missing. A traffic stop was done and the alleged driver, Roque, was taken into custody, the report stated.

A stolen vehicle has been an anomaly as of late, but thieves have had no trouble recently with entering owner's unlocked cars and taking items, a phenomenon that has been dubbed "car fishing."

Some of the areas recently targeted have been the Sand Castle Homes area in Sebring and the Avon Park Lakes subdivision, both over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. The thieves reportedly made off with items like guns, ammunition, bank cards, identification and flashlights.

In almost all of those incidents, the vehicles were left unlocked.

"If they see a vehicle that is unlocked, they'll go through it and find what they can," said Lt. Jess Purvis with the Highlands County Sheriff's Office. "If someone leaves something of value in a locked vehicle, they usually will smash the window out to get to that item."

From Nov. 20 to Dec. 5, 2008, the Highlands County Sheriff's Office responded to 20 reported vehicle burglaries, according to Capt. Paul Blackman. That number was down in comparison to the same period in 2007, when deputies received 35 such complaints.

"Those particular vehicle burglaries will come in bunches," with the perpetrators striking several cars in a neighborhood, Blackman said.

Purvis added that, during the holidays, they often see an increase in crime, especially burglaries. He advises residents to always take valuables out of their cars and keep all doors locked, thus increasing the odds their vehicle will not be a perpetrator's latest "fishing spot."

"They seem to not break out a window just for the heck of it," Purvis said.

Highlands Today reporter Brad Dickerson can be reached at (863) 386-5838 or bdickerson@highlandstoday.com

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