Vine Grove Police investigate multiple car break-in's by group caught on camera

WLKY NEWS AT 11. GOOD EVENING. I VICKI DORTCH AND I’M RICK VAN HOOSE. LOCK YOUR VEHICLES. THAT’S THE WARNING. FROM VINE GROVE POLICE TO THE COMMUNITY AFTER A GROUP WAS CAUGHT ON HOME SURVEILLANCE VIDEO GOING HOUSE TO HOUSE, TRYING TO BREAK INTO CARS. GLADYS BATISTE WENT TO VINE GROVE TODAY. SHE SPOKE TO PEOPLE THERE. SHE JOINS US LIVE NOW FROM THE NEWSROOM. GLADYS, POLICE SAY THE GROUP WAS SUCCESSFUL IN SOME OF THEIR ATTEMPTS THAT NIGHT. YEAH, THAT’S EXACTLY RIGHT, VICKI. POLICE SAY THEY ENDED UP WORKING, BREAKING INTO MULTIPLE CARS WHERE THE THIEVES GOT IN. THEY TRIED HANDLES TO SEE IF THEY COULD GET IN AND THEN IN THE CARS THAT WERE UNLOCKED, THEY ENDED UP GETTING IN. AND TWO CAR THEFTS STEMMING FROM THIS INCIDENT. NOW, TODAY, I SPOKE TO A MAN WHO LIVES IN THAT NEIGHBORHOOD THAT WAS TARGETED. HE CALLED THE SUSPECTS ON HIS OWN HOME SURVEILLANCE VIDEO TO TRY TO BREAK INTO HIS CAR. NOW, THANKFULLY, IT WAS LOCKED AND NOTHING WAS TAKEN, BUT HE TELLS ME THIS ISN’T THE FIRST TIME THIS HAS HAPPENED TO HIM OR HIS NEIGHBORS. IT’S QUIET. AND I THINK THE PEOPLE IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD ARE VERY TRUSTING. SO A LOT OF PEOPLE LEAVE THEIR CARS UNLOCKED. IT’S VERY PEACEFUL OVER HERE. SO, OF COURSE, SOMEBODY’S GOING TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THAT, THAT SOMEBODY IS THIS PERSON. THREE TRIES, BUT THE CAR IS LOCKED. THEY MOVE REALLY QUICKLY WHEN THEY COME THROUGH THE NEIGHBORHOOD AND THEY’RE IN AND OUT BEFORE ANYBODY EVER SEES THEM. WHEN IT APPEARS THIS CAR BREAKING SUSPECT IS GOING TO LEAVE ANOTHER HOME SURVEILLANCE CAMERA CATCHES THEM GOING TO THE HOUSE NEXT DOOR. THEN A SEDAN PULLS UP. ANOTHER SUSPECT HOPS OUT ACROSS THE STREET. VINE GROVE RESIDENT CARRIE WELSH DESCRIBES WHAT HAPPENS NEXT. THEY SCOOT RIGHT OUT OF THE CAR. THEY TRY A FEW CARS TO GET BACK IN THE CAR AND THEY GO TO THE NEXT STREET, WALSH SAYS THAT’S A FAMILIAR M.O. TO HIM AND HIS NEIGHBORS. ABOUT TWICE A YEAR, A GROUP OF KIDS COMES THROUGH AND THEY TRY LITERALLY EVERY CAR IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD UNTIL THEY FIND ONE THAT’S UNLOCKED OR HAS ITS KEYS IN IT. AND THEN THEY’LL GO TO THE CAR OR THEY’LL TAKE THE CAR. IF THE KEYS HAPPENED TO BE IN THE CAR. THAT’S WHY WELSH TELLS ME IT’S NO SURPRISE. VINE GROVE POLICE PUT OUT THIS WARNING TO RESIDENTS TO TAKE THEIR KEYS OUT OF THE CAR AND LOCK IT. POLICE SAY THEY’RE WORKING MULTIPLE BREAK INS IN TWO CAR THEFTS RELATED TO THIS INCIDENT CAUGHT ON MULTIPLE HOME SURVEILLANCE VIDEO SYSTEMS THROUGHOUT THE NEIGHBORHOOD, INCLUDING EDGEWOOD DRIVE AND WALSHES STREET. I’M USUALLY DEAD ASLEEP WHEN THEY COME THROUGH. WELSH SAYS NOTHING WAS TAKEN WHEN THIEVES TRIED HIS CAR. BUT SOME OF HIS NEIGHBORS, WHO LEFT THEIR VEHICLES UNLOCKED HAVEN’T BEEN SO LUCKY. FLASHLIGHT. LIGHTS. BINOCULARS, KNIVES. GUNS. SO PEOPLE. ANYTHING OF ANY KIND OF VALUE THAT THEY LEAVE IN THEIR CAR, THEY’LL TAKE IT. LEAVING HIM AND OTHERS HERE JUST FOR IT, FOR POLICE TO CATCH THEM. I HAVE CAMERAS ON THE HOUSE THAT DON’T SEEM TO QUITE CATCH THEIR FACE OR THE PLATE. I ACTUALLY PUT ANOTHER CAMERA IN MY TRUCK TO TRY AND CATCH THEM, BUT OF COURSE THE MEMORY CARD FILLED UP THE LAST TIME, SO I DIDN’T GET ANYTHING. CALLING IT A NUISANCE FOR THEIR COMMUNITY, IT JUST KIND OF IRRITATING. I MEAN, EVERYBODY FEELS SAFE IN THIS NEIGHBORHOOD AND THAT KIND OF THAT SHAKES OUT A LITTLE BIT. NOW, POLICE SAY THEY BELIEVE THERE ARE TWO CARS CONNECTED TO THOSE SUSPECTS. THEY DESCRIBED THEM AS A WHITE, MID-SIZED FOUR DOOR CAR, POSSIBLY A HONDA WITH OUT-OF-STATE TAGS, ALONG WITH THE MID-SIZED LIGHT COLORED SUV. LIVE IN THE NEWSROOM

Vine Grove police are warning residents to take their keys out of their cars and lock it after a group was seen riding around trying to break into cars.The Vine Grove Police Department posted the warning to their Facebook page on Wednesday with the multiple home surveillance videos that captured the suspects in action. Police said they are now investigating multiple break-ins where the group was successful in getting inside the vehicles and two car thefts related to the incident. The post said the videos showed two individuals breaking into cars on Edgebrook Drive who were operating a white mid-size four-door car, possibly a Honda with out-of-state tags, along with a midsize, light-colored SUV. Police also said it appears that all of the vehicles targeted were unlocked and the video shows the suspects bypassing cars that are locked. Vine Grove resident Carey Welsh believes it is one group of individuals targeting the neighborhood at least twice a year, adding the M.O. is familiar to him and his neighbors. "It's quiet, the people in the neighborhood are very trusting so a lot of people in the neighborhood leave their cars unlocked," Welsh said. "It's very peaceful over here so of course, somebody is going to take advantage of that. They move very quickly when they come through the neighborhood and they're in and out before anyone ever sees them.""They scoot right out of the car, they try a few cars, they get back in the car and they go on to the next street. About twice a year a group of kids comes through and they try every car literally in the neighborhood until they find on that's unlocked or it has the keys in it then they go through it or they'll take the car if the keys happen to be in the car. I'm usually dead asleep when they come through." While Welsh even caught the suspects on one of his cameras attempting to open the door to his cars, they did not get in because they were locked. Some of his neighbors who left their doors open weren't so lucky. "Flashlights, binoculars, knives, guns so anything of any kind of value that they'll leave in their car, they'll take it," Welsh said. The constant violation is leaving Welsh and his neighbors desperate for police to catch the suspects as Welsh calls it a nuisance for their community. "I have cameras on the house that don't seem to quite catch their face or the plate," Welsh said. "I actually put another camera in my truck to try to catch them but of course the memory card filled up the last time so I didn't get anything. It is kind of irritating. I mean everybody feels safe in this neighborhood and that kind of shakes that a little bit."Welsh said he knows some neighbors who have also had multiple cars stolen overnight.

VINE GROVE, Ky. —

Vine Grove police are warning residents to take their keys out of their cars and lock it after a group was seen riding around trying to break into cars.

The Vine Grove Police Department posted the warning to their Facebook page on Wednesday with the multiple home surveillance videos that captured the suspects in action.

Police said they are now investigating multiple break-ins where the group was successful in getting inside the vehicles and two car thefts related to the incident.

The post said the videos showed two individuals breaking into cars on Edgebrook Drive who were operating a white mid-size four-door car, possibly a Honda with out-of-state tags, along with a midsize, light-colored SUV.

Police also said it appears that all of the vehicles targeted were unlocked and the video shows the suspects bypassing cars that are locked.

Vine Grove resident Carey Welsh believes it is one group of individuals targeting the neighborhood at least twice a year, adding the M.O. is familiar to him and his neighbors.

"It's quiet, the people in the neighborhood are very trusting so a lot of people in the neighborhood leave their cars unlocked," Welsh said. "It's very peaceful over here so of course, somebody is going to take advantage of that. They move very quickly when they come through the neighborhood and they're in and out before anyone ever sees them."

"They scoot right out of the car, they try a few cars, they get back in the car and they go on to the next street. About twice a year a group of kids comes through and they try every car literally in the neighborhood until they find on that's unlocked or it has the keys in it then they go through it or they'll take the car if the keys happen to be in the car. I'm usually dead asleep when they come through."

While Welsh even caught the suspects on one of his cameras attempting to open the door to his cars, they did not get in because they were locked. Some of his neighbors who left their doors open weren't so lucky.

"Flashlights, binoculars, knives, guns so anything of any kind of value that they'll leave in their car, they'll take it," Welsh said.

The constant violation is leaving Welsh and his neighbors desperate for police to catch the suspects as Welsh calls it a nuisance for their community.

"I have cameras on the house that don't seem to quite catch their face or the plate," Welsh said. "I actually put another camera in my truck to try to catch them but of course the memory card filled up the last time so I didn't get anything. It is kind of irritating. I mean everybody feels safe in this neighborhood and that kind of shakes that a little bit."

Welsh said he knows some neighbors who have also had multiple cars stolen overnight.

Vine Grove Police investigate multiple car break-in's by group caught on camera

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