VIDEO: Stolen Property Waits to be Claimed by Owners

Following a string of burglaries in Montgomery Village, Gaithersburg and Germantown in the second half of 2010, four Montgomery County men were arrested in December and a large amount of stolen property was recovered from the men’s homes and vehicles.

Since the arrest, over half of the recovered property has been returned to its original owners. However, with plenty of property still unclaimed, the Montgomery County Police Department and detectives have continued their efforts to return stolen items.

On Tuesday morning, items including flat screen TVs, laptops, and a large array of jewelry were displayed for local media with the goal of having residents recognize and claim their items.

“It’s our hope now that by the pictures of these items being publicized, that the rightful owners will see a picture and call in,” Police spokeswoman Lucille Baur said.

Detective Bob Finkelstein described the process by which residents can regain ownership of their property.

“Anyone calling would have to verify that they were a victim of a crime. Typically that just means giving us a case number so we can verify,” he said. “Once we pull the report, we’ll look at the property section and try to match up what they claim is theirs, versus what they reported as stolen. If they have photographs of items or people wearing jewelry items, that is a big help. Once we determine the person is being truthful and we believe it’s their property, we’ll give it to them.”

The number to call to begin this process is 240-773-6246.

Everything that remains unclaimed will follow the same path as all seized evidence. According to Baur, the property will remain at the district station for six months and then will be moved to evidence storage for a year. At the end of that year, if the items have still yet to find their original home, pieces of minor value will be destroyed.

“Any item of value—a computer, certainly jewelry, flat screen TVs—are then all auctioned off by the county and proceeds from these auctions then go into the county’s general fund,” Baur said.

“Not only is this event today to try to help as many people as we can to get their property back, it’s also an opportunity to bring this crime to light and help people prevent themselves from being victims,” Capt. Luther Reynolds said.

Community Services Officer Mark Dixon described several measures that people can take to reduce their chances of being robbed or losing claim to stolen items. He suggested photographing and recording serial numbers of as much personal property as possible. He also emphasized the importance of watching your neighborhood for suspicious activity.

“If you see people looking in windows and you know that’s not your neighbor, please give us a call. That’s suspicious. It’s not always going to be me protecting my home, but me protecting my neighborhood as well,” he said.

Baur added that burglars often enter unlocked cars, remove garage door openers, enter through a garage door and have easy access to keys or wallets kept in obvious places near a front door.

“The most important thing that our community members can do is not take their safety for granted,” Baur said. “Everybody wants to be safe, and the best way you can do that is take the standard precautions to ensure your safety.”

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