Neighborhood Watch Warns of Garage Break-Ins in Ballwin

The theft of some jewelry and other small items from a garage in Ballwin's Woodsmill neighborhood had crime watch volunteers buzzing to get the news out to fellow residents.

Most disturbing to Kim Montgomery, the Neighborhood Watch chair for the community near Highway 141 and Dutch Mill Drive, is the timing of the apparent theft: mid-afternoon on Wednesday.

"It's likely no one would've thought anything of someone 'going for a walk' in the neighborhood around lunch time," Montgomery told Patch via Facebook. "The fact that it was in the middle of the day is a bit disconcerting."

Montgomery posted this warning to her neighbors on Facebook:

"Please make sure your garage doors are down, car doors are locked and outside doors are locked. There was a break-in in our neighborhood this (Wednesday) afternoon, between noon and 2:45 pm. Small items were stolen, no damage done. They entered and left through a side, seldom used garage door. As the weather warms up, it brings out the ... well, the crazies."

The crime was not terribly unlike an incident in Chesterfield on Feb. 21, in which someone found a garage door opener in an unlocked car, opened the garage, made his way into the home and made off with a laptop and other electronics.

Montgomery wanted to remind neighbors:

• Double check outside doors, make sure they're locked and avoid leaving items inside unlocked cars, in plain sight.
• Avoid leaving garage doors unlocked with cars, unlocked, inside. It only takes moments for some unkind soul to slip into a garage, take anything they can grab, and keep moving.