You can protect yourself from car burglars in the Foothills by taking purses and wallets with you when hiking or biking – or leave them at home if possible.
Burglars broke into two cars at the Seaman Gulch trailhead Saturday morning and stole six credit/debit cards – which they then used to charge thousands of dollars worth of stuff before the victims figured out what happened and cancelled the cards.
Here is a picture of the two burglary suspects just minutes after they used one of the stolen credit cards to make a $2,700 purchase at a Boise-area electronics store.
The break-ins happened sometime between 11:30 a.m. and noon on Saturday. Both hikers hid their purses inside their cars and out of sight before going on the trail.
In one of the break-ins, it appears the burglars forced entry into the cars by disabling the door lock on the driver’s side.
In the other, the burglars got access to the inside of a car and then opened the trunk. In both cases, the burglars left wallets in the purses but stole credit/debit cards.
One of the victims told deputies she recognized the man and woman in the photo because she saw them standing in the parking lot with a dog just before she went on the trail that morning. The woman in the parking lot was wearing jeans at the time, and the hiker felt that was weird because of where they were.
When both hikers got back to their cars realized what happened, they started making calls to cancel the credit/debit cards.
Before that could happen, the burglars made more than $7,000 in purchases.
The trailhead is a little bit more than half a mile up Seamans Gulch Road from the Hill Road Intersection.
If you recognize the people in the photo or have any information about the case, please call Ada County non-emergency dispatch at 377-6790 or send an email to [email protected]
While you should always lock your car or truck when parked at a trailhead — or anywhere else — it’s a good idea to leave your purse or wallet at home or take it with you when recreating in the Foothills.