CHESTERFIELD, Va. – Police said thieves have been targeting homes with animals.
While a home with an animal is usually a deterrent, thieves have been utilizing the dog door as an entry. The freedom to go in and out for the home pet also allows easy access to someone who is just the right size.
At least twice recently criminals have broken into homes through the dog door.
"It makes you wonder if it's a teen or small person,” said one resident.
Here in the 3600 block of Colannade Drive in the Colonial Pines Community, police said a thief used the mini-door to help himself to jewelry. The woman that lives here and her dogs were not at home.
"I guess you don't know who's coming through your neighborhood," a neighbor said. "You try to keep an eye on your house and it happens right across the street."
Seven miles away from that home, at a home in the 4300 block of Lafon Street, again a dog door is used to get inside but police say a motion sensor triggers an alarm that scares the crook away. They're investigating if the two crimes are connected.
"I’ve lived here five years and we've never had the problem before."
The crimes have rattled Sonnett Williams sense of security, and she hopes to call her neighbors into action.
"Maybe we need to form a neighborhood watch and let each other know what's happening around us,” Williams. “We all need to help each other."
