Unsolved burglaries continue near Benson, St. David | Crime

(KOLD) - Cochise County authorities continue to seek information in a series of burglaries that have occurred near Benson, St. David and Pomerene over the last two weeks.

Investigators say whoever's doing this seems to know the homeowners are gone or on vacation. They've forced entry in most of the cases and gotten away with large items from inside the homes and from the yards.

"First off the lights were on, the fans were on."

That's what St. David resident Jim Crawford recently came home to after spending three weeks in Show Low. Somebody had broken into his place at Apache Mobile Home Park--and made quite a mess of things inside.

"So I just walked on back toward the bedroom and the bedroom, it was chaos," Crawford says. "All this stuff was scattered all over the floor and bed."

Same is true at the mobile home next door, as well as nine other homes in the general area.

The Cochise County Sheriff's Department believes it's the same person or group of people responsible. They're stealing televisions, other electronics and virtually anything else they kind find of any value.

"Took mostly money and jewelry...they took roughly three thousand in jewels," Crawford says.

Good news is, there's been no face to face encounters with the suspects, so nobody has gotten hurt. But that could change if the burglaries continue.

"It's a little scary, but it happens," says Cochise County resident VaShawn Cobb. "It's a small town, not a lot to do here for teenagers or anything like that."

"Very alarming," says one Apache Mobile Home Park resident known as "Donnie"--"Because we haven't had this go on before."

Donnie is also the guy in the a golf cart who makes the rounds around the park at night, something he's been doing a little more often with all these break-ins.

"To warn everybody in our park to keep their sheds closed...keep their doors and windows locked when they are gone and have somebody check everything...and if possible, leave a vehicle in the driveway with a porch light on," he says.

Again, each of these crimes is taking place when the victim is either out of town or on vacation. That's suggests whoever's doing this is probably casing these neighborhoods with some regularity.

If you see anything suspicious or just out of place in your neighborhood, contact the Cochise County Sheriff's Department at 1-800-362-0812.

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