Star and Eagle police detectives are investigating if two teenage boys caught breaking into unlocked cars in Star early Sunday morning could be responsible for dozens of similar burglaries.
The boys, ages 16 and 17, admitted to breaking into at least 10-to-15 unlocked cars in Star and as many as two dozen others in Eagle earlier this spring.
Officers caught the boys just before 3 a.m. Sunday after a resident in the neighborhood just north of the Can Ada Road/State Street intersection heard someone close a car door in his driveway. The man looked outside and saw three people standing by his car.
The man then saw those same three people open other car doors in the neighborhood. He went outside to confront the burglars. They dropped a backpack on the ground and ran away. The man called Ada County dispatchers to report what happened.
An Ada County Sheriff’s deputy responding to the call spotted two teenage boys walking on N. Paddington Way, which is less than a half-mile away from where the first call came from, moments later.
The boys ran away when they saw the deputy drive up. The deputy jumped out of his patrol car, started running after the boys, and ordered them to stop — which they did moments later.
As the deputy took the boys into custody and started interviewing them, another deputy grabbed the backpack and went through it, finding items like gloves, phone chargers, change, sunglasses, food, and cigarettes which had been swiped from cars.
By later that morning, nine people in that neighborhood reported their cars had been broken into overnight.
Detectives interviewed the boys and released them to their parents. Deputies have identified the third boy involved but haven’t found him yet.
All three boys will charged after Ada County juvenile prosecutors review the case. Several of the items found in the backpack were returned to the people who had their cars broken-in to.
If there is one concept we here at the Ada County Sheriff’s Office would like our residents to embrace above all others, it would be: lock your stuff up.
The best way to avoid being a victim of theft is to make sure your homes and vehicles are locked all the time.
There have been numerous cases over the years of people “jockeyboxing” – which means they walk through neighborhoods and check to see if cars and trucks are locked. If they are not, thieves then go through and steal anything of value.
While the busiest times for vehicle burglaries across Ada County are in spring months of March and April, we also get a lot of reports in the beginning of summer.
So please remember to lock your cars, trucks — and doors to your home and garage areas.