- April 23, 2024
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Though 80% of the car burglaries in the city happen in unlocked vehicles, early October saw a rash of forced entry car burglaries, said Ormond Beach Police Lt. Thomas Elkins at the public Crime View meeting on Wednesday, Oct. 17.
Of the 23 car breaks reported from Oct. 2 to Oct. 15, eight of the affected vehicles had smashed windows. Police recovered several of the victims' stolen items, including purses and laptops. However, Elkins said these crimes were similar to those of the Felony Lane Gang, which originated in South Florida and break into vehicles in towns surrounding I-95 to steal driver's licenses and checks to cash them in another state.
“Very rarely do we have forced entry car breaks," Elkins said, adding that similar cases in the past resulted in fraudulent checks being cashed in states like Georgia, South Carolina and Alabama.
Fingerprints were obtained from these car burglaries, and OBPD hopes to identify a suspect. Though reminiscent of the Felony Lane Gang, Elkins cannot say for sure if the gang is to blame for these crimes. Five of the forced entry car burglaries happened on Oct. 4; the rest on Oct. 9, data shows.
Overall, car breaks are down 5% from this time last year. Also down are the number of guns stolen in the city, a decrease from 31 to 25 compared to last year at this time. Of those 25, only four have been recovered.
“Not good numbers," Elkins said. "We have a hard time recovering stolen guns.”
Ten of the 21 missing guns were taken from unlocked cars.
Ormond Beach Police Chief Jesse Godfrey stressed the importance of locking vehicles, having good lighting at residences and other safety measures to decrease crime in the city. Don't make it "easy" for criminals, he said.
“If you make it easy for them, they’re going to come back," Godfrey said.
