The dark blue Jeep Cherokee spotted in Boulevard Heights on Tuesday and connected to several attempted break-ins stretching from that neighborhood to Virginia-Highland was found near the federal penitentiary in Chosewood Park later that evening.
From Jason Genung, the Boulevard Heights homeowner who put out the initial alert on the the Ormewood Park neighborhood listserv:
I shared my picture of a dark blue Jeep Cherokee with lots of stickers on the back which was full of young teenagers that attempting to break into 1060 Morley Ave SE (incorrectly reported as 1061 before). They also targeted a house on the 700 block of Hamilton Ave SE.
This vehicle was recovered overnight near the federal prison (around McDonough Rd), so ... if you've forwarded along any information to others, please be sure to follow-up and let them know the vehicle was recovered.You may also want to warn that the chosen vehicle to steal - late 90s and early 2000s model Jeep Cherokees and Liberty - are a super hot vehicle to steal for burglaries. If you own one, buying a Club or installing an aftermarket alarm or simple starter kill or fuel kill switch is highly recommended to prevent yourself and your neighbors from being victims.Clearly, we also need to be on the lookout for another vehicle now. This crew has been reported for weeks now in our area. They clearly have an affinity for stealing Dodge/Jeep trucks and SUVs, but they could be driving anything, so I want to share some red flags with you.The big standout is that it appears to be four or five younger teenagers (14-16) running around doing this. These common signs have been reported for our recent cases, which may point to a specific crew involved:
- 4-5 teenage AA/black males driving, paying more attention to the houses than the road/each other.
- Erratic/repeat patterns, circling through the neighborhood, stopping semi-regularly.
- Seen dropping off 1-2 passengers to approach houses, then driving around the block.
- Vehicle often is backed into driveways before/during crimes.
- Stolen vehicle often has windows down or a small window smashed out.
- They're often burglarizing homes during daylight hours.
- Many reports coming in are between 3pm-6pm, could be coincidence, but they're active then.
Granted, we have someone placing the vehicle in Decatur prior to coming through Boulevard Heights that same day, so ... think about that - Decatur first, then Boulevard Heights, Woodland Hills, EAV, probably cut through Reynoldstown or Grant Park to hit the place in PonceyHi/VaHi, then we have a series of car break-ins a few hours later and the car is dumped a few blocks south of my house where they were pictured? That's some food for thought.Be aware folks. This may not stop until we can play eyes-and-ears well enough for APD to catch them. Please - if you see some red flags, even if it doesn't 100% fit what you see in this message, call 9-1-1. Please trust your guy, folks. Get tag numbers if you can, that's hugely helpful.
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