Another string of break-ins leaves a Southern Highlands neighborhood in fear. Police are investigating four break-ins in eight hours, all of them were a few blocks from one another.
The crime spree took place Monday morning, starting at about 4 a.m. and ending at about noon. Thieves broke into three cars and one home.
All three cars were in the gated community of Monterosso Premier. The first break-in happened at 4:32 a.m. on the 10800 block of Osceola Mills Street, the second at 8:06 a.m. on the 5300 block of Polizze Avenue, and the third at 10:31 a.m. on the 10700 block of Osceola Mills Street.
The home burglary happened down the street at 11:46 a.m. in a community that isn’t gated. The house is on the 4900 block of Nardini Avenue.
13 Action News spoke to one of the victims in Monterosso Premier. Justin Watkins says he’s fed up and frustrated.
"I don't feel safe that somebody was in my driveway in my truck while my children were sleeping upstairs,” he says. “Their window looks out over my truck. If there are kids that are breaking and entering into cars and homes, that makes people in the community live in fear. They shouldn't live in fear."
He believes the perpetrators are teenagers because of what they stole.
"They left my credit cards,” he says. “They took the cash. They took the change."
As an advocate of youth empowerment, Watkins thinks the solution to this issue is not out of reach.
"We got to try to provide opportunities for these kids to do something after school to keep them, you know, active so that crime doesn't seem like a likely or a beneficial activity," he says.
Watkins blames the increase in crime on the simple fact that so many people are moving to Las Vegas and spreading into communities that used to be empty.
