Crime Report: Bike Locks Fail to Deter Thieves After Two-Wheeled Transportation

Several bike thefts happened in the Park Cities over the last week.

Things were relatively quiet in the Park Cities last week. There were no high-speed chases or rashes of pellet-gun vandalism. However, a veritable peloton of stolen bicycles has been pedaled away from their rightful owners:

• Between 4:30 p.m. on Sept. 1 and 8 a.m. on Sept. 2, a thief stole a $350 Trek bicycle from a front porch in the 3500 block of Rankin Street.
• At 4:07 p.m. on Sept. 3, a resident of the 3500 block of Southwestern Boulevard reported that four bicycles with a combined value of $7,000 were stolen from her home between Aug. 10 and Aug. 24.
• Between Aug. 28 and Sept. 4, a thief stole a $400 Trek bike from a carport in the 7000 block of Airline Road.
• Between 12:30 p.m. on Aug. 31 and 12:15 p.m. on Sept. 4, a thief stole a $600 Trek bicycle from a covered parking spot in the 6500 block of Dickens Avenue. The victim’s bike had been locked to a post.
• Between midnight on Sept. 1 and 6:30 p.m. on Sept. 5, a thief stole two $500 bicycles from a bike rack in the 6900 block of Golf Drive.

Most houses in University Park have mud rooms and/or lockable garages, right? It seems the city’s cyclists would be smart to keep their bikes behind closed doors.

Click through for a roundup of other residential crimes reported in the Park Cities.

At an undisclosed time on Sept. 3, a burglar kicked in the back door of a house in the 4500 block of Shenandoah Avenue and stole a $200 safe from the closet in the master bedroom. The safe held a $20,000 Tiffany diamond ring, a $1,000 pearl necklace, a $500 video camera, personal documents, and family videos.

At 10:55 a.m. on Sept. 3, burglars entered an attached garage that had been left open in the 4200 block of San Carlos Drive and stole a $100 compressor and several Ryobi tools. All of the items were recovered. Amanda Kristen Maldonado, 26, of Mesquite was arrested at 11:15 a.m. and charged with burglary. Fifteen minutes later, two others were arrested on the same charge in the 3400 block of Lovers Lane: Bobby Adam Collins, 22, of Rockwall and James Daniel Joyce, 26, of Mesquite.

Between 11 a.m. on Sept. 4 and 1 a.m. on Sept. 5, a vandal used a rock to break a bathroom window in the 3100 block of Rosedale Avenue.