The Victim: Jennifer Ruiz
The Crime: Burglary
Date: Friday, March 8
Time: 2:30 p.m.
Location: 3300 block of Falls

The cash in the closet vanished.

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At 2:30 that afternoon, a neighbor noticed a white Chevrolet Suburban parked in Jennifer Ruiz’s driveway. She distinctly remembers seeing the vehicle at the house, but just assumed her neighbor was at home that afternoon. Ruiz has a similar vehicle, and the neighbor did not realize Ruiz was in fact not there.

Instead, however, an intruder was breaking into the home in broad daylight and making off with Ruiz’s property.

“They broke in through the back door,” Ruiz says.

After arriving home around 6 p.m., she noticed the door’s glass was shattered and covering the floor. Scared an intruder might still be in the home, she quickly called 911.

“All our TVs were gone, and all our electronics,” she says.

Along with a 52-inch flatscreen TV and a 32-inch TV, the burglars made off with $100 in cash that Ruiz kept in between some shoes in her closet. Because the house was left in such neat order and the hidden cash was targeted, police believe the crooks may have possibly known Ruiz, who could not think of anyone who would commit the crime. The break-in was the first Ruiz and her family had experienced, and she was a bit scared and frustrated by the crime and loss of her property.

“It was bad, very bad,” she says. “You work so hard and someone just breaks in and takes your things.”

Dallas Police Commander Vernon Hale of the Southwest Patrol Division says despite a TV being large and seemingly difficult to move in such a short period of time, thieves are able to move very quickly when they know what they are looking for. He recommends keeping serial numbers of all electronics to make it easier for them to be returned when retrieved by police or found at a pawn shop.

“The time it takes to steal depends on the number of people, skill level, strength, etc., but it does not take long, that is for sure,” he says. “Keeping track of serial numbers is imperative. In fact, we are starting a property identification program as soon as the resources arrive. The citizens can also log their property in the same database that detectives use for free at leadsonline.com. Then when something is stolen, they can just print it out.”

33

Age of Leoren Trevor Glymph, a Lewisville man who pulled into a gas station in the 2000 block of Fort Worth Avenue April 3 with a gunshot wound; he later died at Parkland Hospital

3

Number of suspects involved in a robbery at the Indigo Apartments in the 2500 block of Wedglea where the tenant was held at gunpoint while they stole $2,344 worth of valuables

$600

Worth of copper tubing stolen from a water line April 4 at Cliff Temple Baptist Church in the 100 block of Sunset