MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A woman says a brazen burglar who was masked as a utility worker broke into her home just moments after she left for work.
Cameras captured a man with a yellow hard hat and an orange vest walking up to Sandra Robinson’s home on Netherwood on Tuesday morning.
“The doorbell recorded him knocking on the door, claiming for him to be Memphis Light Gas and Water,” Robinson said.
Robinson is an essential worker and had just left to go to the office.
Once she left, the burglar walked to the side of the porch.
“I guess he tried to go into the bedroom initially, and since he couldn’t move our air conditioner or whatever, he left the front porch and went around the side of the house,” Robinson said.
Cameras there were also recording.
“He went through the basement window, so he lied down on the ground and shimmied down there—same way he got out,” Robinson said. “He dropped a couple of things. He dropped like a box that had a new Apple watch band.
Robinson said her alarm company alerted her, and Memphis Police made it one of more than 240 residential burglaries reported just this month.
That number is actually down compared to April 2019. And in March, the crime commission said burglaries decreased 24%, compared to March 2019. That may be because a significant number of citizens are staying home due to the COVID-19 crisis.
But car break-ins and thefts are significantly up this month. The crime commission said that crime tends to increase when school is out.
Police have yet to make an arrest in Robinson’s home break-in.
If you know anything about Wednesday morning’s armed robbery incident, you are urged to call CrimeStoppers at 901-528-CASH.
