Since August, police say over a dozen homes have been broken into in the Victoria Park neighborhood of Fort Lauderdale — now the victims of these burglaries have increased a reward for information leading to an arrest.
Between Aug. 1 and Oct. 31, 18 homes were broken into. In one case, police say $250,000 was stolen.
Some residents have pulled their resources together, offering a $5,000 reward through Crime Stoppers — and now they say that’s going up to $11,000 for any information leading to an arrest.
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"They emptied everything," homeowner Jennifer Daly said. "They emptied drawers, they’ve taken jewelry. They’ve taken lots of luxury purses.
Daly was out of town on vacation when the burglars struck. She said thieves somehow broke in by shattering her hurricane-resistant windows and doors.
"The hurricane glass was broken and it almost looked like a baseball hit it or some sort of structure hit it," she said. "But it wasn’t a hole in the glass, it was just shattered.”
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In many cases, the burglars somehow got in through the alleyways and then shut off the wifi or alarms during the crime.
“Our alarm never went off. We have no camera footage. Everything went dead during this incident," Daly said.
Arik Helman previously told NBC6 that the burglars used the same method when they broke into his home on Oct. 23.
Now police are working to find those behind this string of burglaries.
“A lot of these burglaries have a lot of similarities where the victims are not home or they’re out of town. In most cases, it seems the suspects are making entry into the home," said Casey Liening, Fort Lauderdale Police spokesperson. "The loss is significant in some cases so we’re concerned. We’re not sure if they’re related, but there are a lot of similarities so that’s why we’re investigating all possibilities.”
These residents are hoping someone has more information about these break-ins and hope that the $11,000 reward helps. If you know something or if your cameras captured video, call Crime Stoppers at 954-493-TIPS.
