Suspect in custody after rash of car break-ins

CAROLINE Co., Md. – Officers with the Caroline County Sheriff’s Office are asking people to check their cars for missing items, after a significant amount of stolen goods were recovered Wednesday morning.

The Caroline County Sheriff’s Office says a thief had been breaking into cars in places like Fox Grape Farms, Kilber, Boyce Mill and Whiteleysburg Roads for quite some time. Police now have a suspect in custody after they say they connected him with the break-ins.

People living in Fox Grape Farms near Greensboro tell 47ABC their community had been targeted by the break-in thief almost every week since Christmas.

Kacie Meeks, the daughter of a victim living in the community said, “It’s been happening probably every weekend.”

We’re told the thief was stealing things like loose change, gift cards and credit cards from any cars that weren’t locked.

Meeks said, “So he came to our house and got into my dad’s car, but he didn’t get into me or my mom’s. We keep our cars locked, but he got into my dad’s car and he hit five other people on the same street as us all in one night.”

In a lucky break for police, someone spotted a suspicious person Wednesday morning and called the Sheriff’s Office. From there, police say they were able to connect this person with the car break-ins.

Det. Cpl. Helmer said, “That investigation led us to more stolen property that was located within the vehicle and on the suspects person.”

Now that the suspect is in police custody, community members tell 47ABC, they are feeling a little safer.

Meeks said, “Knowing that he is caught and that the Sheriff came this morning it does feel good. I don’t feel bad about leaving my car at night-time or anything like that. I think everybody as a whole probably feels so much better.”

Moving forward, police encourage you to never leave any valuables in your car and to always make sure that your car doors are locked.

Police have not yet released the name of the suspect, but we’ll be sure to update this article when they do.

If you think you’re the victim of one of these break ins, and you want to recover your stolen belongings, you’re encouraged to call the Sheriff’s Office at 410-479-2515.