By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer |Wednesday, April 15, 1992
The Record (New Jersey) | 5 Star | NEWS | B01
Following a rash of cat burglaries over the past two months, police have issued a second warning to managers and residents of Hackensack’s mid- and high-rise apartment buildings.
On six evenings between Jan. 30 and March 30, cat burglars entered 30 apartments by popping open sliding doors on terraces and patios and stole jewelry and cash, Police Chief William Iurato said Tuesday.
Similar burglaries have been reported by nearby communities, including Fort Lee, Cliffside Park, Edgewater, and North Bergen, Iurato said.
The chief said a loose-knit group of burglars appears to be at work. They strike at dusk, climbing onto roofs and jumping from balcony to balcony, entering several apartments in a building, he said.
On Jan. 30 and 31, Feb. 20, 25, and 28, and March 30, apartment buildings on Prospect, Clinton, and Euclid avenues and Anderson Street were entered.
Tenants at Quail Heights II, a mid-rise apartment building on Prospect Avenue, reported that burglars, working their way from the roof, broke into at least four apartments on the night of Feb. 20. As in the other burglaries, no injuries were reported.
Residents returning home realized something was amiss when they found their doors chain-locked from the inside, tenants said.
Police first sent letters to the tenants and managers of the apartments on Feb. 26.
In Cliffside Park, 12 apartments have been entered during the same period, Police Chief Daniel Derito said. The burglars seem to have no fear of climbing onto roofs and can jump from balcony to balcony, Derito said.
Residents of high- or mid-rise apartments with balconies should put objects in the tracks of the sliding doors to make break-ins more difficult, he advised.
In Edgewater, a couple of burglaries fitting the Hackensack pattern have been reported, Police Capt. David Hanna said. Fort Lee Police John Orso also acknowledged a few burglaries.
ID: 17374485 | Copyright © 1992, The Record (New Jersey)
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