Rash of daytime burglaries hit city
Residents asked to be on the lookout
The Porterville Police Department is investigating a rash of daytime burglaries that occurred Tuesday.
The burglaries happened between 6 a.m. and 4 p.m. at various locations throughout the city.
The first incident was reported at 1:09 p.m. and happened in the 600 block of West Pioneer Avenue. The victim told police that between 12:25 p.m. and 12:45 p.m. Tuesday, someone broke into his home and took a television, gaming console, games and a laptop.
At 2:19 p.m., officers were dispatched to the 1600 block of West Pioneer Avenue. The victim said that between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. someone forced entry into her home and stole a digital camera.
Minutes later, officers were dispatched to the 400 block of North Leggett Street, where the victim said that between 12:45 p.m. and 2:10 p.m., someone entered the home and took two televisions, two gold bracelets, two watches and four gold earrings. Police spoke to witnesses and collected physical evidence.
Roughly two hours later, police responded to a burglary directly next door to the burglary on Leggett Street. The victim said her home was burglarized sometime between 6 a.m. and 4 p.m. Once inside, they took two TVs, two watches and a laptop.
“There’s an active investigation going on. There are patrol personnel and special investigations detectives working together to try and figure out what’s going on with that,” said Dominic Barteau, spokesperson for the PPD.
Barteau said there’s obviously a common “method of operations” among all four burglaries; they took place during the day, they occurred at nearby locations and in all but one burglary, the thieves took TV sets.
He said the department has seen a slight rise in daytime burglaries.
“People are at work during the day and getting home at night to find their home was broken into,” Barteau said, adding that burglars are knocking on doors and if nobody answers, are breaking and entering. “As many officers as we have on the street, the No. 1 thing we can ask is that if the public sees something suspicious, they call us,” Barteau said.
