Crime & Safety
3 More Residential Burglaries Reported in Batavia; 1 Involves Break-In
The burglaries are not related and are dissimilar to the string of August burglaries, police say.
Three more residential burglaries are mentioned in Batavia police reports this week, although police say just one of the three was a prototypical residential burglary.
Two of the burglaries took place between Sept. 15 and Sept. 16, the third was on Sept. 11.
"All of these cases are still open and active investigations, but we're pretty confident they're not related," Batavia Detective Sgt. Shawn Mazza said.
Here is the information provided to the press and public in Batavia police reports:
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- A residential burglary was reported in the 200 block of Webster Street at 11:15 a.m. Sept. 16. The burglary took place sometime between Sept. 15 and Sept. 16, reports said.
- A residential burglary was reported in the 50 block of Ritter Drive at 12:44 p.m. Sept. 16, according to Batavia police reports. The burglary took place between 10 a.m. and 12:38 p.m. Sept. 16.
- A residential burglary was reported in the 2400 block of Bird Lane at 3:14 p.m. Sept. 11.
Mazza said the Bird Lane incident was "probably a theft" and police are trying to determine whether the theft might have been carried out by "some people the victims know." Mazza said the victims weren't sure when burglary or theft took place "but it could have been a week or more before the reporting" on Sept. 11.
Regarding the burglary in the 200 block of Webster Street, the offender gained entry through an unlocked door and took a laptop computer, Mazza said.
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The Ritter Drive report was "no doubt a true residential burglary," Mazza said. The homeowner was not present, and there was forced entry to a door, Mazza said.
"In the Chicago area right now, there are numerous towns hit by similar types of burglaries, where (burglars) are ransacking the house looking for any kind of valuables," Mazza said.
Mazza said the victim is still doing an inventory of items stolen from the Ritter address, so the value of the items taken is not yet known.
"What we're asking for is the public to report any type of suspicious activities," Mazza said.
In August, three burglaries were reported in the 900 to 1200 blocks of Woodland Hills Drive and the 1600 block of Wagner Road. The home-burglaries took place between Aug. 5 and Aug. 14, 2013, and involved the taking of electronic devices late at night when residents were in the homes.
On Aug. 16, Batavia police reported that they had arrested four people in connection with the home burglaries. Mazza said information provided by victims and neighbors was extremely helpful in that investigation.
"We couldn't do it without the help of the public," he said.
If you have information about this or any other crime in Batavia, please contact the Batavia Police Department at 630-879-2840.
