Around midnight Tuesday, Feb. 1, five unidentified men searched for open car doors and accessible parked cars to break into throughout the streets of central and South Bexley.
Bexley Chief of Police Gary Lewis said the perpetrators damaged 24 vehicles. There were seven officers on patrol that night, making the team fully staffed, he said. The Bexley Detective Bureau is assigned to the case, but no suspects have been identified, Lewis added.
The Bexley Police received reports of five unknown males breaking into cars near Montrose Avenue and Astor Avenue while travelling in a white sedan.
Columbus Police recovered a white Nissan which was reported as stolen from south Columbus and observed five unknown suspects in ski masks who later fled on foot and were not apprehended.
He said the Bexley Police have expanded safety measures for residents after this incident.
“Additional police officer patrols have been deployed to assist in safety efforts, and we encourage our residents to report incidents of criminal activity,” he said.
Sophomore Eli Rosen, who was among those impacted, has been a victim of break-ins before, as he explained this was not the first time his family car and father’s car has been broken into.
David Rosen, his father, now takes precautions to minimize the risk of break-ins, Rosen added.
“He now leaves his car unlocked and takes everything inside,” he said.
This time, Rosen’s family car was parked on Stanwood Road while his dad’s Honda was in their driveway, he said.
Rosen explained although the windows were not broken in either car, there was an attempt made to search for items in both his father’s and their family car.
“All the doors were open, and there were just boxes on the ground, all over the driveway and the street,” he said.
Like Rosen, this was not Bexley resident Jamie Topolosky’s first time experiencing a break-in. However, this instance was more extreme, she explained.
“We have been ransacked before when we left our doors unlocked, but they have never been smashed,” Topolosky said. “This is a first for us.”
Three of her family cars were rifled through, but only two insignificant things were stolen, she explained.
Two of Topolosky’s cars were parked on Powell and were suspected to be broken into by a common house tool, she added.
“I think it was with a screwdriver because both mine and [my son’s] car had the trim broken,” Topolosky said. “We saw the screwdriver on the ground.”
The third car was parked in the driveway with no damages, as she had accidentally left it unlocked the night prior, she added.
Bexley resident Stephanie Schiff said she had a similar experience with her car window as well when she parked on Cassingham Road that night.
“They pried open my window at the frame,” Schiff explained. “That caused the glass to spider, which they were then able to knock in. The glass was all inside my car.”
Her car was the only one parked on her street to fall victim to the break-ins, so when her neighbors saw the car, they immediately called her, she added.
Schiff said she is now looking into upgrading her security system, since she did not at the time of the break-in.
“I will probably put more lights up and get different cameras,” she said.
Topolosky felt unsafe after the incident as it affected her work life, she added.
“It was unnerving,” Topolosky said. “It has been such a pain. I had to drive around for a while with plastic on my door. I work downtown and it didn’t necessarily feel like the safest thing to do.”
