DALLAS – Some folks who live in the Valley View Lane area in Far North Dallas are putting their focus on a man caught on camera breaking in or trying to break into homes there.
Six residents in the same neighborhood have had houses or cars broken into or attempted break-ins. Most of those happened in a 72-hour window between Friday and Sunday night, and they are not waiting for police to do it all.
The man was caught on camera last Friday around 8 p.m. in a backyard in the 13600 block of Far Hills Lane trying to open a patio sliding glass door.
“What are you doing? Get out of there! I’m watching. I’m calling the cops right now!” the homeowner told the man through her Ring camera.
“We were scared because our kids were here. We were not. We were in a different city celebrating our anniversary,” said homeowner Monica Sais. “When he heard my husband’s voice, you could see him throw his hands up. You can’t really hear what he’s saying, but he’s like, according to my interpretation, trying to come off like he’s harmless, like he’s not really here causing any problems.”
Sais wasted no time adding more cameras.
“I know that sounds really silly, but we ended up adding more cameras,” she said. “We have a camera now that is in between our home and the home that he also entered into.”
Neighbor Suzanne Greever says someone broke into her garage and went through her vehicles Sunday morning. Her cameras appear to show the same man in different clothes from Sais’ cameras.
Greever took action by making posters to alert neighbors. She soon learned they weren’t the only targets.
“We found out since then, that there was another house directly behind us on Sunday morning and then another car just one block over,” she said. “Sunday night, packages were stolen off a front porch by the same guy just a couple of streets that way. He’s actively working the neighborhood.”
Greever and other neighbors banded together to work against the perpetrator.
“We’ve actually posted online his pictures, etcetera. And we’ve had people who are runners and dog walkers, etcetera. They were like, ‘We’ve seen this guy.’ And so now they’re alerted,” she said. “This isn’t just about, yes, he stole some things from me. But more importantly, he tried to get into a house where a family was present. So we’re trying to take action now.”
The ladies are motivated and are trying to create a neighborhood crime watch.
Anyone with information is asked to contact the Dallas Police Department.
