The Burglars Are Back: Scarsdale Police Report

Crafty thieves seem to be aware that  many are out of town for the holidays and are snooping around to find good targets for burglaries. This week, in addition to entering unoccupied homes, they burglarized a home on Springdale Road while the babysitter was inside.  Here's what happened: A home on Springdale Road was entered on the night of 12/28 between 7:15 pm and 7:35 pm while the babysitter was upstairs napping in her room. The babysitter was home alone when she was awoken by a car horn at 6 pm and went to the garage to see if the family needed something but saw no one. She went back to sleep and was again awoken by noise at 7:15 pm and assumed the family had returned. However 20 minutes later she realized that something was not right and looked outside her bedroom door on the second floor and saw a flashlight moving near the door to the master bedroom on the first floor. She texted the homeowner to find out if they were home and when they replied "no" she asked them to call the police because she thought someone was in the house. Police arrived, confirmed that the woman was okay and cleared the house. They found that the suspects had broken a lock on a rear sliding door and entered the home. It appeared that the suspect entered the bedroom. An empty jewelry box/case was found in the kitchen with a small amount of jewelry strewn about. A fire safe that contained the victim's document and photos was missing but recovered on a neighbor's property the next morning.

A home on Barker Road was burglarized on Christmas between 5 and 11:30 pm. The resident returned home and found that a glass sliding door from their patio had been shattered and their home ransacked. Police found a pry mark on the lower left side of the door that appeared to have been made with a screwdriver. The home office, master bedroom and master bath were tossed and several pieces of jewelry were stolen. Police also found fresh footprints leading from the street to the back of the house.

Police responded to a burglar alarm at a home on Fenimore Road on the morning of 12/24 and found an open rear door and signs of forced entry. The door seal was removed, there was damaged to the door and frame and a broken dead bolt and a footprint on the door where it appeared that someone had attempted to kick it in. Police inspected and determined that the vandals had not proceeded past the doorway and the house was not disturbed. The homeowners were out of town. Police called Scarsdale Security who came by to secure the open door.

Pothole: Three cars were damaged when they fell into a large pothole on Weaver Street at Haverford Road between 9 pm and 9:23 pm on 12/19. The pothole was three feet wide and 4 -5 inches deep and took out a total of five tires in just 20 minutes. The first car, a 2009 Honda got a flat tire on the front passenger side. After hitting the pothole, the driver continued to drive the car to her home in New Rochelle and said she would have it towed from there. The second two cars, which were found on opposite sides of Weaver Street each had both their front and rear tires damaged by the hole. A 2011 Mercedes and a 2013 Mercedes both were damaged and had to be towed away.

Threats: A Carstensen Road man reported that he had received several threatening phone calls on December 23. The caller said, "I know where your wife works .... Enjoy the holidays because after I am coming for you. Watch your back." The caller made repeated similar statements on subsequent calls. The resident was very concerned.

Say what? A Colonial Road man called police on the morning of 12/23 when an unknown man showed up in his driveway and spoke only Chinese and could not explain why he was there. The resident also happened to be of Chinese descent but spoke another dialect. Police called "the Language Line" and a Mandarin translator attempted to decipher what the man was saying. He identified himself as Mr Bi and said he had relatives nearby. Police contacted the relatives who said the Mr. Bi was their father-in-law and he was out looking for a lost dog.

Gold digggers? A passerby alerted Police that two teens were at Davis Park with a metal detector and were digging holes in the ground at 4:30 pm on 12/28. Police met two people, one from Thornwood and the other from Mt. Kisco, who were indeed digging holes in the park. Police told them that it was illegal to dig in the park and asked them to leave.

Locked In: A 23 year-old Chesterfield Road woman locked herself in her room after an argument with her brother on Christmas Eve and then was unable to open the door. The brother , age 24, admitted to shoving the door which may have caused the lock to break. Police were unable to open the door and called the fire department who climbed through a window and used tools to open the door from inside the room. The sister said there had been "ongoing tension" with her brother for some time.

Locked Out: A Rock Creek lane woman locked herself out of her house when she was cleaning leaves in her yard on the afternoon of 12/27. The fire department arrived and got inside via an unlocked window.

Family Matters: Fenimore Road residents called police at 9:30 pm on 12/27 to say that their adult daughter was outside and they did not want her to come into the house. Police spoke to the woman who was standing outside and said she was waiting for her father. Police called the father who said that he had given her money and wanted her to leave. The daughter agreed and left the property voluntarily. At 1 am on 12/28 the daughter walked into police headquarters to say that she lost her silver Sony MP3 player on the property of her parents home on Fenimore Road. Police tried to help her find the device but had no luck.

A Lockwood Road man went to headquarters at 8 pm on 12/29 to show police an unauthorized text message he received from his ex-wife, from whom he has an order of protection. The text message was not threatening and concerned a vacation home that the two parties share in Newport, Rhode Island.

Vandals: A Sprague Road man reported that $5.00 in change was taken from his car when it was entered in the early morning hours of 12/19. On the morning of 12/22 he also noticed that the interior light of his car was on and suspected someone may have been inside the car. He was unsure if the car was locked on either occasion.

A Boulevard man reported that something hit a front window of his home and shattered the glass at 10:45 pm on 12/23. Police found a rock in a flowerpot directly below the window. There was no other damage.

Identity Theft: A Heathcote Road discovered that almost $5,000 in unauthorized purchases had been made on her American Express card. Amex advised her that there was unusual activity on her car and they closed the account and issued a new card. In addition, $909.75 in purchases were made from a company called Industrial Press in her name and she received an invoice.

A high school student reported that a credit card, driver's license and cash were stolen from her wallet while she attended track practice at SHS on the morning of 12/24. She had stowed her wallet underneath a friend's bag in the high school breezeway while she attended practice. The friend left before her, picked up the bag and left her wallet exposed.

Found: A purse containing a wallet and identifying papers was found on Greenacres Avenue on the night of 12/27 and turned over to police. Police called the Sleepy Hollow Police to try to find the owner.

The owner of the Parkway Diner found a key ring with four keys in his pocket on the morning of 12/24. There was no identifying information with the keys. He turned them over to police.

A customer at the Scarsdale Shell Station called police at 7:30 pm on 12/29 when he believed he had not been given the proper change after paying for gas. He said he gave the attendant a $100 bill but the attendant said that he had given him a $50 bill. The manager said he would check the register and call the customer to resolve the issue.