Cary police are investigating what they believe is a targeted home break-in.
Police believe the April break-in at a home in Cary’s Windermere neighborhood is part of a South American gang targeting wealthier homes.
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On the afternoon of April 26, a woman went to pick up her daughter from school. She told police that she was gone for about 45 minutes when someone broke into her home, stealing $18,000 in cash and $33,000 in jewelry. She came back to find her home ransacked and police found a crumpled map with a star in the backyard, marking the victim’s home.
“I had no idea that had happened,” resident Kathy Wright said. “When you see on the news regularly about foreign gangs coming in, that’s typically in big cities with more population, but you haven’t seen that in a community yet.”
Neighbors told police before the break-in, they saw two men near the home who were wearing reflective vests and appeared to be Hispanic.
All of these details are why Cary police believe the suspects are with what they call South American Theft Groups (SATGs).
WRAL News asked Wright how she would balance having honest workers come through compared to what happened earlier this year.
“Like I said, if someone comes to my house and knocks on my door, if you’re ringing [the] doorbell and opened the door and something doesn’t feel right to me, I will let my neighbors know,” Wright said.
Wright said most of her neighbors have some type of home surveillance in the neighborhood.
In this case, police say no one’s cameras caught what happened.
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