Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Follow Up: Solicitor = Possible Break-In

Please share this with your neighbors as not everyone reads this blog.

I followed up with our Sherrif's liaison regarding the reports last night about a young man knocking on a neighbor's door to talk about Neighborhood Watch.  This has been happening around other parts of Altadena.  Please be cautious.  Chances are this is someone scoping out your house.  Here's Carolyn's comments:



The teens or young adults who've been knocking on doors around several neighborhoods have no connection to anyone we can think of in Altadena and their story changes slightly from one house to another.  They'll try to tell you that they're working on an Eagle Scout program and are organizing a neighborhood watch, or that "my grandmother Marsha is the block captain and she asked me to come talk to you about neighborhood watch".

Their stories are bogus, and in neighborhoods where they are organized, they all know the guy standing on the porch is lying. 

Chances are they're just trying to find out if you're home and their companions may be just out of sight or are already headed up your driveway to look for a way to gain entry through a door or window on the rear of your house. 

Two different scenarios seem to repeat.  Sometimes the person at the door is looking to distract you while their companions do attempt to break in - and some have been successful at that, or they're knocking insistently and when no one answers the door, they're in your home in a matter of seconds.

Don't trust any of it.  Please thank everyone who calls the Sheriff's Station at 626 798 1131 and ask them to keep doing that, and when info is available, please gather as much descriptive info as possible - male/female, approx age, height, kind of clothing, color or pattern on their clothing, that sort of thing, but do it safely.

When that insistent knocking on your door starts, just holler "sorry, I can't come to the door right now".  If the person at the door actually knows you, they'll holler back at you.  The criminals won't.  They'll just look for the quickest way in.

Any help getting the info out to others is greatly appreciated.

Stay safe and thanks again very much for asking the question!

Carolyn

2 comments:

claudia said...

A group of us will be doing our annual caroling on Risinghill Rd this Friday (the 23rd) after 6pm. See you then!

claudia said...

We believe we were scouted tonight by a young Latino male saying he lived on canyon Dell and needed to talk to us. The dogs were barking so loudly we couldn't hear anything else he said. We did report it to the sheriffs.