Within the past few months a handful of thefts have occurred in certain neighborhoods throughout Willow Glen. Some residents say the robberies are a reality check, demonstrating that Willow Glen is just like any other community in experiencing crime. But others believe their neighborhood has become a target for criminals because it is viewed as a wealthy area of San Jose.

Some residents who have been victims of these recent thefts say they have become more cautious about leaving things outside but still like where they live.

In some incidents the stolen items weren't worth much monetarily but the residents still felt violated knowing someone had trespassed onto their property.

For Katie Senigaglia, a Willow Glen resident since 1974, it was only a pillow stolen from her porch chair, but she said, "They still had to come up to my house to do it."

"I don't know why anybody would want it," Senigaglia said. "It seems more a malicious act than to try to gain something of value."

It also made her more cautious about sentimental items in her front yard like a statue her father had carved. The statue was knocked down in the dirt, she said, so she decided to move it to her backyard.

She lives near the intersection of Koch Lane and Cottle Avenue near Schallenberger Elementary School but said she never had problems with schoolchildren in the past and doesn't consider them suspects in the theft and vandalism. But recently dog feces was placed in a jar where her son was keeping pollywog eggs.

"It kind of upsets me," Senigaglia said about the various incidents.

Her mother, Sherral Morford, lives a few blocks away on Cottle Avenue, where a Neighborhood Watch meeting was recently held for the first time. There was a good turnout of neighbors from her street and nearby Redondo Drive and Hermosa Way, Morford said.

Living near Willow Glen Middle School, Morford has had problems with students loitering, turning on her hose, carving trees, creating graffiti and breaking flowerpots. But the neighborhood meeting was more about some recent car break-ins and crime in general than student vandalism, she said.

"One thing the police told us was to not have garage door openers on car visors," Morford said.

The residents—mostly retired individuals and families with young children—have posted Neighborhood Watch signs in their windows, Morford said.

One Willow Glen resident, who prefers to remain anonymous, recently had mail stolen out of her mailbox. On the day her mail was stolen, her friend had placed loan applications in her mailbox, never imagining it wouldn't be a safe thing to do. The resident notified the police department and post office of the theft and is considering canceling her credit cards because she is afraid of identity fraud.

"I still think it's a safe here, but it's just unfortunate this happened," she said. "This is not the type of place where you can leave doors unlocked. It does take away the feeling of community because I can't have my girlfriend put something in my mailbox anymore."

The resident, who has lived in Willow Glen for one year, said none of her neighbors had their mail stolen that day, and she's never had problems when packages or Christmas decorations were left outside, but after the incident she bought a brass mailbox with a lid that locks.

Several other residents who have had porch furniture stolen said they think the perpetrators knew they were not home or cased out the property beforehand.

Georgia Ladd had chairs worth $370 stolen from her front porch the evening of Feb. 14. She said she thinks people are cruising the neighborhood during the day and returning later in the evening to commit the thefts.

"I think this neighborhood is targeted because it's perceived as wealthy," Ladd said. "It doesn't make me feel any different about Willow Glen. It's still a wonderful place."

And even though she bought chairs to replace the stolen ones, they are sitting in her living room rather than her porch until she finds a way to secure them. The chairs accompany an expensive furniture set that she "can't easily keep replacing," she said.

"We planned a long time and shopped around for the right set and now we're not able to enjoy the porch the way we wanted to," Ladd said.

Last year porch furniture—two rockers and a table—was stolen from Linh Bauer. She also thinks people are "scoping" the neighborhood to see when people are not home. She said she feels Willow Glen is not as safe as it used to be.

She was not surprised about the furniture thefts because poinsettias were stolen over the Christmas holidays a couple of years ago when she lived near the intersection of Broadway and Coe avenues. She has since moved to a different area of Willow Glen.

"I was very emotional and upset because it was the holidays and of course you feel violated," she said about the poinsettia thefts. "After that, I was very jaded and I must say, the following two Christmases were very low-key in terms of decorating the outside of the house."

She said the furniture was heavy, but she thinks the robbers knew she was not home that night. She reported it to the police, but "there was nothing they could do."

"I hope that more police patrolling the area and neighbors being more aware will deter future thefts," Bauer said. "I am much more careful now about leaving doors and windows open. You just can't be too careful."

Belinda Weber, who lives on Settle Avenue, hasn't noticed any police driving down her street in years, she said. She has lived in her house for 30 years and has been the victim of several thefts. In the past a bicycle was stolen and her house was broken into.

The most recent theft occurred last month, when a 100-pound concrete lion statue was stolen from her front porch step. She filed a police report.

"You can't be too careful these days, when everyone works and people aren't around to pay attention," Weber said.

She doesn't live on a street with an official Neighborhood Watch program, but she is home "99 percent of the time" and keeps an eye out for any suspicious activity, she said. The statue theft occurred on an evening when she went to bed early. She has three alarms in her house, but "it's not enough to keep people from stealing from the front stoop," she added.

Her neighbors also have concrete planters and statues in their yards. The only theft in her neighborhood she has heard about recently involved a toy box. She said thefts in Willow Glen "typically go in spurts."

But she has accepted it as a fact of life and said thefts happen everywhere.

"You can't stop living," Weber said. So she has left other statues on her porch. "You can't nail down every single thing or be totally paranoid."