In the most recent in a series of burglaries on Lewis Mountain Road, a green 1992 Chevy Corsica, several laptops, wallets, and cell phones were stolen from a house.
Third-year College student Fallon DuPlantis, the owner of the stolen car, said when she and her housemates had returned home Sunday around 2:30 a.m., she found her room ransacked with her laptop, wallet and cell phone missing. It was not until the following morning that DuPlantis had noticed her car had been stolen.
"They had apparently hotwired my car and stole it," she said.
The car-jacking was most likely done by the same person who burglarized the house, Charlottesville Police Lt. Gary Pleasants said.
DuPlantis said she and her housemates had locked the front door before they left Saturday evening but left the back door of their house open for a housemate who had misplaced her keys to the house.
DuPlantis said she later found out that her Instant Messenger program had signed off shortly after 12:10 a.m., an indication the burglar had entered the house and disconnected her laptop in order to take it shortly after the girls left the house.
Duplantis said she believed the speed with which the burglar entered her house seemed to indicate that the burglar had been watching to make sure everybody was gone before trying to enter their house.
The burglar had almost certainly come into the house though the unlocked back door, Pleasants said.
"The police told us that there had been other break-ins on this street in the past few days, but no cars," DuPlantis said.
Duplantis said she was disappointed with the response of the Charlottesville Police Department, and she said she was having difficulty obtaining a copy of the police report pertaining to the break-in for insurance reasons. Duplantis said the police told her that because they have no leads so far, they are not going to actively pursue the case for the time being.
"I just wish that they would do something," she said.
The Charlottesville Police currently have no suspects in custody in relation to this case, Pleasants said.
Despite the reports of recent burglaries on Lewis Mountain Road and of numerous break-ins into the Wesley Foundation, a group of buildings connected to the Methodist church on Lewis Mountain Road, Pleasants said that the police currently have no reason to believe that these events are all connected or have been perpetrated by the same person or group.
Pleasants said the best way to deter burglars is to lock all ground level windows and doors and to keep external lights on. Most burglars will most often not break windows or force open doors in an effort to avoid noise, especially in residential neighborhoods where excess noise could attract attention.
Dean of Students Penny Rue also recommends that students keep lists of possessions and registration numbers for insurance reasons and to not leave door keys in obvious hiding places, such as under the doormat or a planter.
According to Rue, if a student's house or apartment is broken into, it is never the fault of the student. However, students living off-Grounds must be wary of their surroundings.
"Living in a community of trust in the residence halls, students are able to be casual, but when they move out into the community, they need to be more vigilant," Rue said.
Rue added that the Office of the Dean of Students is always available to help students who find themselves in these situations.
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