Willow Glen Resident
News
Willow Glen home burglary prompts call for precautions
By Mayra Flores De Marcotte
The holiday season turned ugly for one Willow Glen resident, when Rebecca Morgan's home on Newport Avenue was burglarized.
Someone broke into the house through an unlocked back gate and kicked open the back door around noon on Nov. 24, Morgan said.
The burglar made off with Morgan's laptop, a digital camera, cash and jewelry and rummaged through her belongings.
Morgan, who many in the community know as the woman who started the Halloween Books for Treats program, had been gone a few hours to run some errands when the burglary occurred.
Morgan said as a safeguard in an emergency such as an earthquake, she had cash hidden in the home, but the intruder found it all. She no longer hides money at home.
The jewelry that was stolen were pieces Morgan didn't wear, and in retrospect, she says she should have had them in her safety deposit box at her bank.
"Based on what the burglar took, the police think it might have been a young person with a drug problem," Morgan said.
The individual is still at large, and the police have no leads.
Morgan has lived in Willow Glen since 1994. She admits she often leaves her doors unlocked during the day even though she knows it isn't a wise thing to do.
"We get lulled into feeling secure because we live in Willow Glen," she said, "but it should be common sense."
According to Morgan, the police said that her 1-inch deadbolt only kept out the "honest people."
The San Jose Police Department suggested a deadbolt that goes into the stud, not just the door jam, she said.
For now, Morgan is trying to recover her stolen items through some legwork of her own.
"I'm just trying to dig up my life again," Morgan said.
Morgan has been calling local pawnshops and perusing eBay and Craigslist trying to find her computer, which held personal as well as business information.
Fortunately, Morgan makes it a habit to back up her computer regularly and store her backup in her safety deposit box, so she has to redo only her last week's worth of work.
She has also changed all of her passwords and called her credit card companies. In addition, she keeps her hardware's serial numbers in a secure place such as a safety deposit box, so an identification system is in place should the police recover any stolen property.
"If you don't have this information, and the burglar finds a way to get through your passwords, they can identify the item as their own," she said.
Morgan encourages anyone who has been victimized by a burglar to file a police report, and offered another tip.
"Sometimes burglars leave a window unlocked so they can return," Morgan said. "So it's important to check your window locks."
After the unexpected break-in, Morgan now exercises caution when leaving her home and makes sure to lock her doors.
