ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, April 7, 1997 TAG: 9704070006
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DIANE STRUZZI THE ROANOKE TIMES
Car break-ins and thefts are some of the most common crimes in Roanoke and Roanoke County. How easy is to become a victim? And what can you do to protect yourself?
William "Junior" Bralley has been a victim of crime three times this year.
Each time, thieves broke into the three cars and pickup truck he parks outside his Northeast Roanoke home. They took antique fishing lures, candy, cigarettes... even a peanut butter sandwich.
After the last incident on March 17, Bralley fought back.
He removed the doorknobs from his front and back doors, replacing them with deadbolt locks.
He purchased a $700 security system, positioning cameras on his front yard and driveway. At night, he captures any activity outside his house on a videocassette recorder. Motion-sensor lights set off a buzzer in his bedroom if anyone comes near the house.
"All you can do is light the place up, look at your car and stay up 24 hours and watch," he said, his cheeks flushing red as he talked about the aggravation and cost the crimes have caused.
Bralley is not alone in his anger.
While such violent crimes as murder and rape declined between 1994 and 1995 in Virginia, motor vehicle break-ins and thefts increased.
Roanoke and Roanoke County residents are much more likely to have their cars stolen, or something taken from them, than they are to fall victim to a violent attack.
Car thefts, larcenies and vandalism are some of the most difficult crimes to solve, police say. Rarely is there physical evidence or witnesses. And it's rare for victims to know the serial numbers of stolen items - which means that even if the items are recovered, it is difficult to prove ownership.
Detectives say many of those they arrest are drug users who are stealing the items for quick cash or to use as barter.
No item is too sacred or too big to steal. Canadian military equipment was taken from a car parked outside a Roanoke County house. A washing machine was stolen from the bed of a pickup truck in a parking lot, as was a kayak from atop a sport utility vehicle parked at Tanglewood Mall.
The criminals are "looking for something for nothing," said Roanoke County crime prevention officer Tom Kincaid. "They're looking for an easy target. So many people in the valley give them the opportunity."
Most cars are stolen because the owners keep a spare set of keys somewhere in the car. Ernest Wood knows that scenario all too well. He used to keep his keys in the console of his 1996 Saturn. It was stolen from his Southeast Roanoke driveway in mid-March.
Officers found Wood's car the next day on Lanford Street Northwest. It wasn't damaged, but a cell phone, compact disc player and several CDs had been taken. None of the stolen items was covered under Wood's insurance.
Wood's advice: "Don't leave articles like that in plain sight. Don't leave valuables in your car, period. And don't leave your car keys in it."
Detectives charged a 22-year-old Southwest Roanoke man, Michael Furrow, with stealing Wood's car. Furrow also has been charged with stealing five other vehicles in Roanoke. Police are investigating him in connection with about 60 other car larcenies, including Bralley's.
Furrow said last week that he committed crimes because he was addicted to crack cocaine. The thefts provided the fast cash he needed to feed a habit that had grown to $1,000 a day.
Furrow has not been convicted and awaits a preliminary hearing in court this week.
Detectives arrested Furrow only after a pattern of car thefts and larcenies emerged. A stolen vehicle was always abandoned in a neighborhood that had been hit by a series of motor vehicle break-ins. And another vehicle was stolen from that same neighborhood.
Once detectives recognized the pattern, an informant's tip and a fingerprint from one of the stolen cars helped lead them to Furrow.
When the crimes are more random, they are harder to solve. In Roanoke County, for instance, motor vehicle thefts have been rising, but police say there are no apparent links between them. In the majority of cases, motorists have left keys in their vehicles.
The best defense against these types of crimes is to recognize that anyone can be victimized, experts say. If you install a custom sound system that is worth more than your vehicle, for instance, protect it. Those thousand-dollar stereos, along with compact disc players, cellular telephones and purses or wallets left behind on dashboards or seats, top the list for the most commonly stolen items from vehicles.
And, sometimes, even taking all of the precautions doesn't work.
When Slam Duncan bought an $800 compact disc player and stereo, he tried to protect them. He installed the CD player in his trunk, out of view. He purchased a removable face plate for his stereo and recorded all the serial numbers.
But one night last spring, someone popped his trunk lock and stole his CD player.
"There's really nothing [more] I could have done," said Duncan, who is a morning DJ at J-93 FM. "I didn't hear anything. The guys were pros. They were in and out before anything happened."
His car was one of several broken into that night at the Honeywood Apartment complex on Ogden Road, and one in a string of thefts from cars at Southwest Roanoke County apartments during the winter and spring of 1996.
Officers caught the teen-agers responsible for the crime after a witness saw them in the parking lot and called police. But a third teen-ager got away with Duncan's CD player.
Police credit that call with helping solve those crimes. Citizen awareness is the frontline defense, they say.
"If a patrol car had gone by they would have thought [the suspects] were just walking by," said Kincaid, the county crime prevention officer. "But to a resident looking out they would know that they don't live in the apartment complex.
"We don't catch people by ourselves," he added. "We catch them because other people tell us."
LENGTH: Long : 117 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: 1. WAYNE DEEL/THE ROANOKE TIMES. Ernest Wood's 1996by CNBSaturn was stolen from his Southeast Roanoke home in mid-March.
Officers found his car, but a cell phone,
William "Junior" Bralley, his wife, Doris, and son, Tony, have added
video surveillance to their Northeast Roanoke home. Graphic: Chart:
Tips to prevent property crimes. Map. KEYWORDS: MGR