PEMBROKE PINES, Fla. – Criminals broke into a Pembroke Pines home and got away with expensive jewelry and other items, but it’s the way they got inside that is worth taking note of.
The homeowner said the crooks gained access by removing the doggy door.
“I noticed that my sliding glass door, which had a doggy door, is wide open,” the homeowner, identified only as Audrey, told Local 10 News.
Not only wide open, but the doggy door itself was missing.
Audrey said she had just got home Friday night to her home in the Grand Palms community of Pembroke Pines to find her dogs barking and a big mess in her bedroom.
“The drawers are open, everything is all on the floor, boxes are ripped up, all of my jewelry boxes that I had in there are on the floor and open,” she said.
Police told her it was the third house hit that week.
The hook to that doggy door panel had been yanked right out the wall, a wooden piece was somehow moved out of the sliding glass rail, and the doggy door that was missing was found nearby in a lake.
The family has been shaken up by what happened. They are now turning their home into, as they put it, Fort Knox.
After speaking with police and hearing from several neighbors who had similar stories, the family wants action.
They are concerned about community gates being left open and gaps in the fencing that have not been fixed, and want the HOA to act before the situation gets worse.
More than $50,000 worth of goods were taken from the family.
They said Pembroke Pines police investigators have been there daily collecting evidence and talking to residents.
Anyone with information is urged to call Broward Crime Stoppers at 954-493-TIPS.