Tales from the Chair Chapter 13

Do you feel safe in your garage?  Do you warm up your car before you go to work?  Do you bring your things for the day and put them in the car while you are warming it up?  Perhaps you start your car, then go inside to make your lunch for the day, or grab a cup of coffee.  Do you park in the driveway and then use a garage door opener to get into your house? 

I do all of the above........

My client Laura does also.  She brought her purse and cell phone out to the garage, started her car to go to work in the morning, then ran inside to brush her teeth while her car was warming up for a few minutes after she had just finished her cup of coffee.  Then, Laura went outside and got in her car to go to work, her purse phone and garage door opener were all gone.  Run upstairs, ask her husband if he is playing a mean trick on her, and he is still in the shower. By the time she realized what had happened, she panicked because every credit card, ID card even her social security card, cash and her iphone with every contact and business meeting or transaction was in her phone.  All her pass codes and pin #'s as well.  Laura had her husband go and open their business while she went to the police station to file a report and then she had to go home to look up her bills and account #'s so she could cancel all her credit cards.............too late, $3600 on one, $506 on another, bank card used because it is credit or debit for $1000 and she got gas from a card in over $100, so there was probably two cars.  The bank called her to confirm another transaction while she was home and said they had previously reached her on her cell phone regarding the other transactions that morning only, her phone went to voicemail this time.  And it gets better...........4 days later their house was burglarized, they gained access by using her garage door opener, and 3 other homes in her neighborhood, which happens to be Caughlin Ranch area, were hit the same day, the same way, only two of her neighbors realized that their garage door openers were missing out of their cars, both of which park in the driveway and have keyless entry, how they got in, apparently there are some sort of transmitter that will send random signals and most of the time it will find one that will trigger the code such as a key fob will.  They girl they arrested, who had Laura's Coach bag with her wallet and all her finally cancelled credit cards is a career criminal named Charlotte Hodges who is 30 years old.  She apparently is a drug addict and goes to the nicer neighborhoods and looks for these easy in and out through the garage, most times in just minutes while you are innocently warming up your car, if she wanted access to your house would just take your garage door opener and wait until you leave, then take all your jewelry, cash and whatever else she can get her  hands on............How safe are you?