LAKEMORE, Ohio — Several home surveillance cameras in a Lakemore neighborhood captured video of a group of people suspected in a rash of car break-ins early Monday morning.
The images are not clear, but Lakemore Sgt. Rich Morrison believes the thieves, who wore dark clothing, are teens or young adults.
"They're quiet. They're stealthy. They don't slam the door shut," Morrison said.
He said the crimes happened around 3 a.m. The group searched for unlocked cars, got into about ten of them and stole valuables from at least six victims.
"We've had anything from watches to purses to electronics to cash," Morrison said.
A 38-year-old mother named Samantha said about $100 that she stashed away in her car for emergency situations was stolen during a break-in to her vehicle parked in her driveway on Oxford Circle.
"I went to start the car, get it warmed up and kind of noticed everything was open and thrown, tossed around," she said.
While the Lakemore neighborhood was hit hard, it wasn't the only location targeted by the crooks.
A few hours later, car break-ins in Akron were reported near Triplett Boulevard. Surveillance pictures from the neighborhood seem to match the suspects in the Lakemore crimes, police said.
In one of the Akron break-ins, a gun was stolen from a car on Plainfield Road.
"That really ramps it up for us. Now we got suspects that are brazen enough just to walk through a neighborhood in the middle of the night and go through anybody's vehicle. Now they have a weapon," Morrison said.
Morrison believes the crimes will continue until the suspects are captured.
He's urging people to lock their cars even in their own driveways.
"The residents need to know they need to start locking their vehicles. They need to take valuables out and into the house," he said. "If we can just do a little bit of prevention, then it wouldn't be compounded into a bigger issue later."
Anyone with information that could identify the thieves is asked to call Summit County Crimestoppers at 330-434-COPS.
