Police Log: Car Break Ins and more

The following report was sent to Virginia-Highland residents by VHCA safety chairman John Wolfinger on Feb. 26.

The following reports are gleaned from our Zone 6 crime stats for the weeks 6 and 7 of 2012, with emphasis on our Beat 601 - but with news from all around the Zone as it applies to us.  Again, I state these reports are not meant to scare anyone, but to make you aware of what happens around us every day.

Aggravated Assault: No reported incidents in Beat 601  

Auto Theft: A scooter was stolen from a Briarcliff Road parking lot, a vehicle taken from the Carlton Condo's secured parking garage on Highland Lane and a pickup truck was taken from Highland View.  

Auto Theft Recovery: No reported findings in Beat 601  

Commercial Burglary: on Ponce De Leon Avenue was entered via a broken glass door with only an empty cash register taken.  

Residential Burglary: No reported incidents in Beat 601; Around the Zone though in this time period entry was made via kicked-in doors 3 times.

Commercial Robbery: No reported incidents in Beat 601  

Residential Robbery: No reported incidents in Beat 601  

Larceny From Auto: Vehicles were entered on Kanuga Street (2), St. Charles Avenue, Highland Lane (in the Carlton parking garage), Virginia Avenue and PDL Avenue (2).  One of the Kanuga Street victims was able to track her stolen cell-phone with a GPS system and retrieve it from a dumpster on North Avenue.  Bet she won't leave the phone in the car anymore. All around the Zone in this time period auto break-ins resulted in 6 I-Pods stolen, 7 laptops taken, 5 cameras swiped, 4 cell phones stolen, 10 GPS systems torn out, and 10 purses/wallets taken along with the contents and 4 more handguns and a lot of ammo added to the arsenal already on the streets.  One license plate was taken and replaced with another stolen one (keep checking your plate).  Three catalytic converters were also sawed off from a Honda Element, a Toyota Tundra and a Nissan Frontier - all vehicles high enough off the ground to easily slip under for quick sawing.  

Larceny Other: A St. Charles Avenue resident was loading baggage into his car at 1 a.m., left one bag on the ground next to the car to go back into his house for a few minutes and when he came back out - you guessed it!  Not a great way to start a trip.  One hundred gallons of used cooking oil was stolen from the storage tank behind Chow Baby restaurant on PDL Avenue - interesting in that this used product had no appreciable value just a few years ago, now it is worth stealing. Other incidents from around the Zone - 2 males were caught and arrested after taking 3 rolls of t.p. from the MLK Center.  A traffic stop on Somerset Terrace yielded a stolen license plate sticker taken from Ralph McGill Boulevard in January with an arrest made.  A guest hid cash and his I.D. under the mattress at the Stratford Inn on Parkway Drive.  At the Edgewood Kroger store a perp ate a box of salad bar food as she walked around the store and was caught and arrested as she attempted to leave the store without paying.  An employee at Glass, Inc. on Glen Iris Drive was sent to pick up 4 windshields from a supplier - but took 3 of them to his home and only brought one back to the shop.

Pedestrian Robbery: No reported incidents in Beat 601. There were two incidents elsewhere in the Zone involving selling to strangers.  At 2:30 a.m. the victim was waiting in an East Atlanta playground to sell a cell phone - the "buyer" showed up armed and took the phone and fled.  At 9:45 p.m. the victim was waiting to sell a pair of Jordan shoes in a parking garage on Highland Avenue to a buyer he met on facebook - the "buyer" was also armed and took the shoes and fled.

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