Solving a car break-in takes luck

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) - You've often heard car alarms, in parking lots or on the street. But when was the last time you called the police about it?

Few people do, police say.

Counting on my car alarm was just one of the many lessons I learned when my car was broken into while on vacation. I thought I did everything right while traveling through the Cleveland area: locked my car in a well-lit hotel parking lot and kept most of my valuables in the trunk.

The next morning, nearly all of it was gone, except for some books and tennis racquets. Among the stolen items was my daughter's custom-made violin, worth thousands.

But I got it back, plus some of my other things. While car break-ins are usually hard to solve, police made arrests in this case.

My first break, if you can call it that, was the thief stole something truly identifiable. My daughter's name was placed inside her custom violin by the maker, Tim Jansma of Fremont.

I thought it was an unusual enough event that the city paper might be interested in writing about it and perhaps generating some publicity to find the violin. I called the Cleveland Plain Dealer and columnist Tom Feran took interest.

The ID on the violin was key. I also was lucky because there are alert people in Cleveland. Four days after the theft, a strange call came in to Cleveland violin dealer Yabing Chen.

Chen said the man wanted to know how much a Tim Jansma violin was worth.

Chen thought it was odd the caller would not know the value of a fine instument. Chen pressed on and the caller eventually gave the dealer the violin's custom number inside the violin, number 158. Chen said he could call the violin's maker, who he personally knew, to verify.

"At which point," Chen said, "he must have gotten spooked because he said, 'I think it's 156.'"

Jansma was aware of the theft and relayed the information to Chen who then called the police. While police tried to trace the call, bigger tips came in.

Two separate people who read the Plain Dealer story thought they spotted the violin at a Cleveland area flea market. One of them snapped a cellphone picture of the dealer and his wife.

"He had a lot of power equipment," said witness Robert Kroeger, "but the violin didn't jive with the rest of what he had, and it was too new."

The dealer was with another woman.

"She told me it (the violin) was worth a couple of thousand dollars," said another witness, Jeri Grant. "She said, 'You can check it out,' and I asked what they ask for it, and one of them told me $150."

Separately, the two called police who came and made the arrests.

Assistant Police Chief Ray Titl of the Solon, Ohio police department said, "We cannot be successful without the people out there taking the initiative when they see something unusual to give us a call. And that's exactly what happened here."

If you're looking for your stolen stuff, flea markets are a place where thieves can stay under the radar, according to police. Pawn shops have to report their inventory to police.

"Stolen goods don't do anyone good," said Ken Miller of E&J Pawn Shop, "because if they are stolen the police will come in here and take it away, and I lose."

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Police recovered my GPS and traced the memory. On it were a number of hotels unfamiliar to me. The suspect in my case, who has a record for property theft, seemed to target such locations.

But my laptop is long gone.

"It's all electronics," said GRCC computer security chief Bob Ouchart. "And in the end, it means money."

That was a surprise to me because I had the serial number and it was locked with a password. But Ouchart knows how thieves can retool it and sell it to someone else.

"In a lot of cases you can just reinstall the operating system and the software on top of what was already there," he said, "if you don't care about the contents that were there previously."

You can install location software in your laptop, and some computer makers offer this option. But it can be pricey.

One thing you might be able to count on is the serial number. They can't be scratched off. Most laptops have engraved markings that, even if someone did scratch them off, is a red flag that it's stolen property.

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I should have read my car's owners manual. The dealer showed me how I can prevent trunk access by using the car's valet system, which makes it impossible to pop the trunk from the inside.

A lot of cars have a valet system to lock the trunk.

As for my car alarm, it works now, though I may have disabled it accidentally earlier the morning of the theft. Some cars, like mine, require you to reset the system by locking the car with the key, which I didn't do.

Finally, if stuff is stolen from your car, forget about making a claim on your auto policy.

“What is covered, anything attached to the car, is covered under your auto comprehensive insurance," said Chris Lerchin from State Farm Insurance. "Any personal belongings (are) under your homeowners."

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Anne Schieber's Top Ten List of Preventing a Car Break-in

1. Remove all personal property from visibility. Thieves will break into cars for anything, even pocket change.

2. Don't count on your car locks. Thieves will smash your window. Few people report such noise to the police.

3. Don't count on your car's alarm. Few people report triggered alarms to police. Besides, thieves are usually gone in minutes

4. Just to be sure, make sure your car alarm is working. Some systems can become disabled if they inadvertently go off. Check your owner’s manual for resetting.

5. Don't assume security cameras will protect you. Not even hotels reliably have them. And if there are cameras, they may not work. Cameras exist to protect the owner's liability, not necessarily to protect your property

6. Be extra careful when traveling. Thieves target hotels knowing people travel with more personal belongings than usual.

7. If you do travel with valuables and can't take them, use your trunk valet system Most cars have them. They prevent trunk access from inside the car. Thieves will rarely spend the time to break open a trunk that cannot easily open.

8. Write down serial numbers on electronics. They're very valuable to police in helping to recover your stolen property. Many laptops have engraved numbers that can be a red flag if scratched off.

9. Make sure you have proper insurance. If you travel with valuables and they're stolen, you cannot claim them on your auto policy. Make sure you have renters or homeowners insurance with appropriate deductibles.

10. Help cut down on car break-ins. Break-ins are on the rise because of weak laws and difficulty solving cases. Vigilance pays off. Report any suspicious activity to police. And don't create a market for stolen goods. Receiving stolen property is against the law. You could get arrested and lose your purchase.

Why You Don't want to be a Car Break-in Victim

1. Rarely will you recover your property. Stolen property is sold or discarded quickly.

2. You may face higher insurance premiums if you make too many claims

3. Rarely will insurance deductibles cover the value of what was stolen. Many motorists have just a few hundred dollars of property in their car.

4. If your car window is smashed, your auto comprehensive deductible may not cover the repair.

5. You will have to spend hours documenting your stolen property and making the report to police and the insurance company.

6. You'll have to spend hours replacing your property.

7. Your identity and personal identification is at risk, especially if you lose a laptop and failed to set a password. Now, you can set passwords to iPods and some cellphones. Passwords won't stop a theft, but make the property less attractive to thieves.

8. Being the victim of any crime is an unsettling experience to say the least. Avoid crime simply for your peace of mind.