Burglars hit East Side home, steal credit cards, cars while homeowners sleep
By Alana Cerrone
@Alana_Cerrone
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WLNE) – Residents of the East Side of Providence are learning their providence community – not prone to crime sprees – is being hit by burglars.
"That is kind of surprising I’ve never really felt unsafe or that there would be break-ins around here," says Gemma Travis, who lives nearby.
Providence Police Major David Lapatin says there’s been about 4 break-ins in the last 6 weeks, but one in particular stood out to them.
Around 3 a.m. Friday, police say two men broke into a home near Elmgrove Avenue, walked around inside, and stole their belongings and credit cards – even their cars.
The homeowners were home sleeping. They didn’t discover the break-in until the next morning.
"As compared to a break in the afternoon usually when no one’s home, these are very dangerous."
According to police, the suspects’ crime spree didn’t end there. In the stolen vehicles, they drove to a Coventry Walmart and racked up hundreds of dollars in charges in items police say are easy to resell, like Nintendo and PlayStation consoles.
In this case, police aren’t sure how the burglars broke in. But in other cases, the thieves either climb through unlocked windows or take air conditioning units out of windows to get in.
They’re asking people who live on the east side to be vigilant, although most we spoke to, like Tom Marlow, say crime sprees like that are far and few between. "I have a hard time believing it’s here to stay in this neighborhood."
Police are still looking for help identifying the two suspects and say they may be traveling with a female.
©WLNE-TV 2018
