After a night during which four homes across the village were burglarized, Wilmette police are advising residents to leave lights on at home when they aren’t there as a crime deterrent.
Each of the homes – hit sometime before 10 p.m. Jan. 27 – was dark at the time of the intrusion, with no interior or exterior lights on, according to an alert sent out late Monday by the department.
The earliest reported incident took place sometime between 3:30 and 10 p.m. on the 1300 block of Elmwood Avenue, police said. Sometime pried open a side door, rummaged through drawers in the house’s bedrooms, and went through a family room curio cabinet, taking various items of jewelry with no listed value, according to the police report.
Sometime between 6:30 p.m. and 9:45 p.m., someone got into a house on the 1100 block of Greenwood Avenue, thanks to an unlocked door, police said. Once inside, the intruder went through drawers in the bedrooms and dining room, eventually making off with jewelry, watches and silverware with a total value of more than $10,000, police said.
At 6:40 p.m., a man who was sleeping on the second floor of his home on the 3400 block of Wilmette Avenue heard his front doorbell ring. He later told police he went down to investigate, then heard a noise coming from the rear of the house. He investigated and found one of his basement windows open, with the screen removed. Police said no one appeared to have been able to get into the house.
Then, at 7 p.m., officers responded to an alarm on the 900 block of Hunter Road when someone triggered motion alarms at the back door and in the living room. When they got to the house they found no one, but discovered the back door had been pried open.
Once again, whoever broke in went to the bedrooms and searched through dresser drawers. In this case, however, police said nothing appeared to have been taken from the house.
“We ask that you immediately contact the Wilmette police by dialing 911 if you see something suspicious,” a police spokesman stated in the department’s press release.
Twitter: @pioneer_kathy