Thieves break-in to 25 cars in Chesterfield neighborhood - NBC12.com - Richmond, VA News

Police are searching for thieves who broke-in to 25 cars in one Chesterfield neighborhood this weekend.

The burglaries happened late Saturday night into early Sunday morning along Alfaree Road in the Kendale subdivision.

The first call for a car break-in came in to police around 4:30 a.m. on Sunday.

"I noticed there was about four police there, plainclothes [officers] and a couple in uniform," says Bob Ament who lives in 9800 block.

Officers say they arrived and discovered a number of vehicles on Alfaree road with their doors wide open and items missing.  By the end of the day, police counted 25 victims who had one thing in common, their cars were unlocked.

Susan Whiteman had a folder full of papers taken from her car.

"I assume perhaps they were going to go through later to see if there's any money there," she said.

Most of the cars were parked in driveways.  Officers say the thief grabbed whatever he could get his hands on.  Some neighbors say there are no street lights.  They say some added lighting could make a robber think twice before breaking into their vehicles.

Ament says people living around him were all targeted, but luckily he was not.

"I have lights on the side of the house that come on if anybody comes up on the driveway. I also have a post lamp at the front of my property to keep somebody from coming up there without being noticed," he said.

Victims say the simple act of locking their doors is something they will take the extra time to do now.

"I guess you could anticipate this sort of thing happening in any neighborhood.  It is a bit surprising when it happens to you," says Ament.  "But I'm afraid that's the way of the world isn't it really."

Some victims say they were told an arrest has been made, but officers were not able to confirm this.  They just said they are working on some major leads.

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