Panama Forum

panamajames
Joined 2012
Posts: 5096

8 years ago

Boquete Country Club Burglary

8 years ago

Here is the total scoop on the burglary at Joe and Linda Hart's place in the Boquete Country Club yesterday. Joe is doing the reporting................
"Linda was returning from Boquete and I was going to Boquete. I had our dog Kacy with me. It takes me approximately 5 mins to get from the Boquete Country Club where we live to that point. I set the alarm on the house when I left. Since we now have both cars in running condition, there were no cars in the drive.

Linda and I passed each other at El Dorado about 3:40. She was going home and I was, of all places, going to the police station. Linda came home and could hear our house alarm going off but saw nothing suspicious. She unlocked the front door, but before she could enter the code to cancel the alarm, it went off.

For those that don't understand house alarms, it sounds for a set number of minutes, then shuts off. If anybody moved in the house, or opens a door or window, it sounds the alarm again. To me this means that the perp(s) entered the house, went directly to the master bedroom, opened one drawer, moved 2 things on the dresser, and took the 1/2 gallon plastic bottle of coins, and left while the alarm was sounding.

Now for the point of entry, she could see the window at the back of the house was open which is very confusing. We have locks on our sliding windows. One lock was removed, and the perps took it with them. That window was ajar by a couple of inches. The mini-blinds were disturbed. The chairs on the back porch were in order, but had to have been moved back and straightened by the perps upon leaving. Linda called me while looking through the house, and I turned to the police to tell them of the crime. Two DIP (plain clothes) came with me in my car, and 2 more uniformed officers followed in their marked pick up truck. Others followed later. The police were very professional, apologized to me, and went over the facts. About 9 police officers were there, including a Lt, and sub-captain, who made it a point to tell me one officer came from Bugaba and the other from Dolega. The 1st thing they asked me is I had any repairmen over today, and I said I had a plumber over between 9:30am to 12:30pm that morning. I gave the police his bill.
They found him and checked him out, and brought him to my house. He's OK. They also went to the gate to see what cars entered and left between the times. Bravo......our cameras are put to use already. We went to Super Centro Ivan to ask Ivan to look out for anyone trying to sell change or buying things with all coins.

This is a residential "smash and grab." Break into a house with an alarm sounding. If you are on foot you can only carry what's fits in your pocket. The perps were probably in the house 1 or 2 minutes, and made about $300. I'm a retired police officer with 30 years experience in detective work.

Whoever it was, did all of this in a matter of 20 minutes. Looking for money and/or guns and probably was surprised that Linda came home so quick after I left.

Thank God we weren't hurt, our dog is safe and material things can be replaced. However the invasion in our private life has been damaged.

The only thing we have left to do is buy a bigger, meaner dog, or install cameras. This is our home and we are not leaving. Its as bad in the states if not worse.

Just a word of caution to all. Be alert of those around you day and night.

Joe and Linda Hart"

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