Southern Trails

Just want to let everyone know that I stopped a home break in yesterday in our neighborhood. I came home from work for a few minutes to drop something off and my neighbor acrossed the street said that a man was at her door. When I pulled up in my medic truck. She said he took off running. She then saw him at the dead end of Pantina Way. My partner and I drove down there and confronted the man. He said he gets dropped off and he goes door to door selling a product. He had one flier and it was all bent up and worn. I informed him that there is no soliciting in our addition and that I was getting on my radio and having law enforcement started to have him checked out. He took off when I said that. He went down the path back towards the park we donated to the city.

The man was white, 20-30 yo and about 5'8' and 175 lbs. Short black hair. blue and white hawaiian type shirt, white or cream colored knee length shorts.

My neice is an IMPD officer and she arrested 5 men about 3 weeks ago here in the township. In her case it was a white male being dropped off by 4 black men. He walks the neighborhood knocking on doors and when there is no answer he kicks the door in and calls for the other guys in the car to come, and in a few minutes they are gone. Me neighbors dog barking kept him from kicking her door in. When I stopped him in front of the other house, they were not home, he was getting ready to enter the house but I got there before he kicked their door in.

My neice said there is a group of several of these guys hitting the neighborhoods in Franklin Twp. They have hit several neighborhoods around Thompson Rd. and Five Points Rd. She said they believe that they have someone casing the neighborhoods and taking a picture of the homes they believe are vulnerable and then sending the crew back to break in. This is in broad daylight.

A man rang my doorbell last week attempting to pull out a wrinkled up flyer stating he was selling something too.  He was white, brown wavy hair, skinny, about 5'10".  I don't believe he was wearing a Hawaiian-type shirt; however, he was just as suspicious.

I answered the door thinking it was my neighbor across the street.  When I opened the door he was standing back 10 feet or so and asked about my bird feeder as to where I purchased it.  Then he asked if my dogs were wolves or gentle.  Of course, I told him wolves!  As they continued to bark (good dogs!!!) he pulled out a wrinkled up flyer stating he was selling something.  As he approached my stormdoor, I told him I was good and was not interested.  He then asked if one of my dogs was a purebred.  Once I answered him, he proceeded to leave toward my neighbors home.  I ran to a different window, but did not see him after that.  I did not get a warm and fuzzy feeling re: this character.  In retrospect, I'm glad that he knows someone is here and that 2 dogs are here too.

Maybe we could purchase 2 cameras and have them placed near both entrances to record license plate numbers and descriptions with our surplus $$.  I've experienced 2 occasions where someone tried to break into my home, 2 other times where someone actually vandalized our vehicles, and a questionable man coming to my door.  My kids also came across a man hiding behind the white fence near 5 Pts Road late in the evening.  The boys were playing night-tag and ran into him.  Of course, they ran and the man got into a car that sped off toward Southeastern Ave.  In this instance, the man was African-American.  This is the only detail the boys saw before high-tailing it back home.

I spoke to my neice and she said that is this happens to anyone else. Get a good description of the person. Do not give nay notice you are calling 911 just tell them not now. When they leave see where they went. Call 911 and tell them that there is a suspicios person that is out of place in the neighborhood and you would like him checked out.

I also talked to her about people tresspassing in here fishing. She said that they very easily could be coming in to see our routines. To see if we have animals and when our neighbors are coming and going. She said we need to call 911 when ever anyone is here fishing that is not with a resident. A patrol car will come out and the persons name will be given to dispatch. If they are caught again, they will be arrested. We need contact info. for a board member or their representative. This would be to potentially go to court in order to press charges for tresspass. If the board does not desire to do this, I would be more than happy to take on this responsibility. Simply put, if they do not live here and they are not with a resident. They do not belong here. This would pertain to someone looking to steal or be in here just fishing. They do not belong here.

She also said that the moped may very well have been taken by the same people in this theft ring. They are and have been working this area of Franklin Twp. very hard. The Lt. for this district is having more patrols in here but that is not enough.