Five Burglaries Prompt Increased Police Patrol in Lutherville-Timonium

A recent string of residential burglaries has Baltimore County police officers stepping up enforcement in the Lutherville-Timonium area.

The five incidents happened on Pot Spring Road, East Seminary Avenue, East Timonium Road and west of York Road near the Historic Lutherville neighborhood.

The five incidents took place between Sept. 23 and Oct. 13. With the exception of one incident, all of the break-ins happened during daylight hours when no one was home.

"We try to saturate the area a little bit more with high visibility patrols in an attempt to deter anyone that may be in the area," Lt. Robert McGraw said. 

During two of the five burglaries, the suspects broke in through a rear window. The burglars gained entry to the other three homes through unlocked windows.

The similar nature of the crimes has lead Baltimore County detectives to believe they might be linked, but there is no clear evidence to suggest the suspect or suspects are the same.

"Generally, most of these are what you would call daytime burglaries and they were all in the same general area so we're assuming, without any other specific evidences, that these are linked due to that," McGraw said.  "[But] there's no smoking gun here that says these are all linked."

On Oct. 13, the date of the latest reported incidents, two homes were broken into on Belmore Road. The intruder or intruders snagged a guitar,  Ravens jerseys and a few laptops from one of the homes, but didn't take anything from the other.

"During this transitional time of the year between warm and cool weather, please take a moment to make certain that your windows and doors are locked and secure, including upstairs windows that could be accessible by ladder or porch roof," wrote BCPD Capt. Martin Lurz in an e-mail to community members.

In the Lutherville-Timonium and Cockeysville area, thefts and burglaries are the most common crimes committed.

With that in mind, McGraw offered a few tips homeowners should consider in order to prevent burglaries:

• Make sure all of your windows and doors are locked.
• Make it look as if someone is home, by leaving lights, a television or some other electronic device on when not at home.

"I know a lot of people don't like to do it because we live in a world where we want to stay green and be eco-friendly … but believe me, it's a very good deterrent," McGraw said. "If someone comes to the door and you don't answer, but they hear a stereo, they don't know if you're there or not."

• Communicate with your neighbors to pick up mail, newspapers or to report anyone walking around your property when you're not home.

McGraw said, often times neighbors will say they saw something suspicious after the fact but, "that doesn't help us two days later."

• Keep your house well-lit at night.

Speaking as a homeowner, McGraw said he personally rearranges cars in his driveway when he leaves for work in the morning.

"I have two teenage kids so I have a fleet of cars and I always have one or two cars at my house. I move them around. Before I came to work today I backed one out of my garage and let it sit out front. I always move them around," he said.