Police probe 3 burglaries in one neighborhood

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Keeping your home safe

Nassau County police are working to determine whether break-ins at three Baldwin Harbor homes on Nov. 30 are related, the commanding officer of the 1st Precinct confirmed last week.

The three houses — on Hastings Street, Harbor Point Road and Lydia Place — were all burglarized between 5 and 9 p.m., Inspector Daniel Flanagan said.

The First Squad is investigating whether the same thief or thieves committed the burglaries, Flanagan said, declining to provide further details.

A resident of one of the houses, Jeanne Romero, said that a number of items were taken from her home, including jewelry and electronics. Romero said that she and her children were out for the evening on Nov. 30, and returned home about 9 p.m. to find that the house had been broken into. A window next to the back door had been removed from its frame, she said.

Most baffling to her was the theft of her 1978 yearbook from Jamaica High School in Queens. “They left my diploma behind,” Romero said. “I wondered if someone was on the yearbook committee and wanted to try for a retro look.” Jokes aside, she added, the burglary “makes no kind of sense.”

The intruder separated the window from the frame, popped the sliding lock on the window and reached in and unlocked the door, Romero said.

Her older daughter managed to track the theft of her laptop through her Gmail account, which records the time the cover on the device is raised. The first time the laptop was opened, she said, was 6:20 p.m. It was opened again at 9:37 p.m., and again at 1 a.m.

Along with the laptop, her daughter’s Nikon camera and a purse were also taken. “She was more upset about the pocketbook,” Romero said, which was apparently used to carry the loot, including jewelry.

Romero said that her younger daughter lost her Xbox, her laptop, her wallet and school identification.

She said that in her report to police, she wondered whether someone had been watching the house to learn the layout. “It’s black back there,” she said. “I can’t imagine someone going back there cold turkey. There’s no fence, but I can’t imagine someone hadn’t seen the yard” before the burglary. She had had work done on the house recently, and wondered whether she and the other burglary victims might have shared workers.

Romero also noted that the intruder didn’t knock over a large turtle tank under the back window.

The theft stunned her family, she said — particularly her children. “I grew up in Queens; I lived in the Bronx,” she said. “I’m used to it. But for my kids, this is the first time.”