Overnight Door Ringer Swipes Garage Door Openers

A man ringing the doorbells of condo owners in the middle of the night eventually got into the buildings’ garages, where he proceeded to rip off garage door openers from unlocked cars, reports said.

At least three garage door openers were reported stolen at condominium buildings in the 9400 block of South Melvina Avenue and the 6200 block of West 94th Street during the overnight hours of March 14, police said.

A woman said she went down to her car that was parked in the building’s garage to go to work around 6 a.m. when she noticed her garage door opener was missing from her glove box. She went to work and throughout the day learned that her neighbors were also missing their garage door openers from their unlocked vehicles.

The woman’s elderly neighbor told police that a man rang her doorbell around 2:30 a.m. and told her he had forgotten his garage door opener and needed to get into the garage. Although he was polite, he was very persistent, the elderly neighbor said.

Police said the elderly neighbor buzzed the man into the building. Standing outside on her balcony, she watched the man leave the vestibule and go into the now opened garage. The man was wearing a hooded sweatshirt and she was not able to get a look at him.

Another resident said she went to down to her car to leave for work at 6:30 a.m. the same day. She noticed that someone had entered her unlocked car and stole a pair of Maui Jim sunglasses and her garage door opener.

A man from a condominium building in the 6200 block of West 94th Street that shares a garage with the other buildings, said he went to the garage to get his car around 9 a.m. He noticed that his garage door opening missing from his open glove box.

While interviewing the man, police said a neighbor came up and told them of someone ringing her doorbell around 2:42 a.m. She ignored the bell and went back to sleep.

Police have advised the condo owners to contact the garage door manufacturer and get the codes changed so the suspected burglar can’t get into their building in the future.