Pepper Spray, Stun Guns, and Tasers… Oh My!

A machete-wielding robber held a 61-year-old Birmingham homeowner hostage for seven hours in a home invasion, until he eventually grew tired and allowed the victim to escape.

After threatening the man with a machete and hammer, the robber told the victim he would “slice him open” if he didn’t hand over all of his cash. For some reason the robber then stuck around awhile, holding the man hostage.

Eventually the robber wandered into the victim’s bedroom. In Goldilocks fashion, the bed ended up being just right. The 24-year-old robber crashed on the mattress and fell asleep.

The victim was then able to sneak out of the house and flee to his neighbor’s home where he called the police. The burglar was arrested and charged with aggravated burglary and false imprisonment.

I think Jason Voorhees would turn over in his grave to hear about this disrespect of a machete crime. But I suppose he would even get bored after messing around for 7 hours…

Be Safe, Be Prepared.

Related Blog Posts:
Theft Victim Slashes Suspect With Machete
Farm Worker Defends Himself by Fighting Python in a Tree
No Coconuts for You!
Machete Becoming Bay State’s Weapon of Choice?

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Normally, diversion safes are constructed of regular household objects, like soda cans, cleaning products, books or flower pots. They are a pretty ingenious device to store your valuables safely, in plain sight.

Besides the commonly used objects, if you did it correctly, you could use just about anything to deceptively hide valuables around the house. The worst (or best, depending on how you look at it) I have actually seen for sale was fake “dirty underwear” with a hidden compartment to hide cash. Not something a burglar would want to sift through looking for an easy score, unless of course skid marks were your thing.

Now I have heard of hiding money under your mattress before, but this Israeli woman in Tel Aviv took this a little too far. Citing some sort of “traumatic experiences with banks” in the past, this woman decided to hide her life savings inside an old mattress.

That’s all well and good, except when she bought her elderly mother a new mattress as a surprise present, she threw out the old mattress. Yes, the mattress that she claims was stuffed with almost $1 million dollars in Israeli Shekels and US Dollars.

That is one heck of a Diversion Safe.

I can imagine a mattress with that much cash would be slightly uncomfortable to sleep on, no wonder the mother wanted a new bed. But then on the other hand, that is something I would NOT forget about retrieving before pitching out the trash.

“I woke up in the morning screaming, when it hit me what happened,” said the woman when she finally realized what she did the day prior. “It was all my money in the world.”

Efforts to locate the discarded mattress and cash have so far come back unsuccessful. The trash was already picked up and sent to a local landfill, but after searching at least three locations, she has turned up zilch.

There is really no way to verify her claim, and she isn’t disclosing too many details yet. Wouldn’t want every treasure hunter in Israel looking for an old mattress stuffed with a cool million. Israeli authorities did not have a report filed.

Wonder how this “traumatic experience with beds” is going to change her banking habits?

A manager at one of the dump sites said his staff was assisting the “totally desperate” woman, but with over 2,500 tons of garbage arriving every day, chances of finding the mattress in the garbage stack are getting slimmer.

The manager also reported he increased the security at the facility to keep other would-be treasure hunters out.

Sure… Good luck with that.

Be Safe, Be Prepared.

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Other Diversion Safe Related Blog Posts:

Diversion Safes, Better than a Cardboard Box

Fake Out the Burglars and Beat Them at Their Own Game

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The 70-year-old wife of an Elyria, Ohio judge was so angry at the intruders who tried to rob her, that she whacked one of them in the head with a pot. BAM!

Four boys pushed their way into her home while Ellen Basinski was on the phone with her husband, this past Tuesday.

The husband David Basinski, a Lorain County Judge overheard the comotion and rushed home. His wife grabbed her favorite “Emeril Lagasse” 5-quart sauce pan in an attempt to defend herself against the teenagers rifling through her purse and cabinets, and ended up smacking one of them upside the head.

One of the teens threw a bottle of whiskey towards Mrs. Basinski to distract her so one of the other boys could flee. They all ran from the scene but were later apprehended and charged with aggravated burglary.

The judge said his wife was rather upset that police had to take her pan as evidence. No sauce tonight!

To kick this story up another notch, it was later reported that Chef Emeril Lagasse heard of the incident and felt so bad that the woman lost one of his trademark pans while warding off home intruders that he’s sending her a whole new set of his signature cookware.

Double BAM!

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Similar to the other Lost Cell Phone story, this one out of New Castle, Delaware is also pretty funny.

Apparently we have this guy who breaks into this house.

The homeowner hears someone opening his basement door and is startled when a unknown guy walks into his den. The victim who was sitting on his couch, jumps up and starts yelling at the intruder.

The guy takes off through the house and escapes out the front door.

Can you guess what happened next?

Well the guy ended up dropping his cell phone in the victim’s front yard. Way to go buddy.

So the homeowner calls the police, who arrive to take the report. While the cops are looking around, the victim finds the cell phone on the ground and hands it over to the police.

Right there we are pretty good and should have no problem finding this guy. But, it gets better…

With the cell phone in the hands of the investigator, it starts to ring. And whose name do you suppose comes up on the display? Mom.

Of course the police answer and talk to the would-be burglar’s Mother, who confirms the identity of her son.

The police later found the 33-year-old guy walking along the highway. He was taken into custody without incident and charged with burglary related offenses.

So, if you have been following our burglary tips from the past few days, pull up your pants so you don’t trip or get a wedgie, don’t leave your getaway van running with the keys inside, eat the whole doughnut and leave the cell phone at home.

Be Safe, Be Prepared.

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Ron Strykert, former guitarist and co-founder of 80s rock band Men At Work did not keep to himself and was arrested late last week on a felony charge of making criminal threats.

“Who can it be knocking at my door. Go ‘way, Don’t come ’round here no more…”

The Police (LADP, not the band) reported Strykert, who comes from a land Down Under, Where women glow and men plunder, showed up at a Hollywood home where he used to live and caused a disturbance. The current homeowners met a strange man, who made them nervous, were forced to run and take cover, and call 911.

Unfortunately for Ron, the breakfast was served in LAPD lockup.

Ron, this is Hollywood, you can’t just go around plundering like in Australia.

It’s no mistake, They’ve gone and grabbed old Ronnie, and Strykert was given a time out in a Los Angeles jail where he can cool off and do the “Safety Dance” to his heart’s content… Oh, wait, that was Men Without Hats… He is of course expected to Be good be good be good be good (Ronnie).

I’m betting there will be no vegemite sandwiches in jail either.

Ok, I could probably throw some more Men At Work lyric references in there, but I think I’m done (12?). perhaps I’ll come back and edit in some more later. “People just love to play with words.”

“Can you hear, can you hear the thunder?”

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A recently laid off WaMu employee happened to be at home when a pair of burglars broke into his house. His wife was working, his son was in daycare and he was in the basement.

Just after 1:30 PM, while doing some work around the house, Patrick Rosario thought he heard a knock at his front door. Before he could respond, he then heard a loud noise. He quietly walked up the stairs and was able to peek out of the cellar door, which was cracked open about an inch.

He saw an unknown person walking around and heard the noises of at least another person going through the house collecting his valuables.

Rosario had a cell phone on him, and immediately called 911. He was able to sneak out the backdoor undetected, and arm himself with a hammer before he made it to the front of his house. Hiding behind his garbage can, Rosario was able to peek around the corner and see what was going on. He still had the 911 dispatcher on the phone.

Apparently, while the burglars were busy going through the home, they left their Ford Windstar van running out front. Assuming the burglars expected a quick getaway, Rosario hopped in the van through the unlocked door, and drove away.

He figured the guys ransacking his home would be too busy to notice, and even if they did, they would not be able to catch him on foot. He drove to a friend’s house a few block and waited for the police.

“I kept a pretty cool head,” Rosario said. “You never know how you’re going to react until you’re in that situation.”

Back at the house, a witness across the street later reported that two men exiting the house “looked back… and appeared startled.”

Dude, Where’s my Van?

“I wish I could have seen the look on their faces,” Rosario said.

The two burglars fled the scene and left a couple of flat-screen TVs, game consoles, laptop and a jewelry box by the front door.

Some of the responding officers were quite amused at the details of this attempted burglary. “Two pulled up, and they looked over at me and go, ‘You stole their car — way to go, dude. That’s awesome.’ Another told me that I just made her month.” says Rosario.

Rosario acted against the 911 dispatcher’s advice, and local authorities wouldn’t officially comment if Rosario’s actions were advisable. “We expect responsible adults to make their own decisions,” he said. “Clearly, this worked in this case, but in another case it might not have.”

Even Rosario realized the events could have unfolded differently. If the break in occurred at the same time a day earlier, he would have been napping in the bedroom with his 2-year-old son. “I would have been trapped in my bedroom,” he said.

Rosario has already replaced his front door with a more secure door, purchased some pepper spray and had a “robust” alarm system installed.

Luckily things worked out for Patrick this time, but now if anything happens again, he is better prepared.

Be Safe, Be Prepared.

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An uninvited tenant has been making the rounds between unattended vacation homes in the North Webster, Indiana area. Apparently, this guy would scope out Webster Lake residences, and if the house looked unoccupied and didn’t have recent tracks in the snow, he figured no one would be around.

So this guy would effectively “move in” for a spell, eat some of the food left behind, drink some beer, wear some of the homeowner’s clothes and sleep in the beds… Eventually he would rotate to another similarly unoccupied vacation home, once he grew bored, ran out of food, or otherwise felt the house no longer suited him.

Of course, besides having his way with the contents of the house, he would steal some items when leaving. It wasn’t reported how much porridge was missing or if any chairs were broken, but it is assumed at least some of the beds ended up being just right.

He ended up being noticed when the owner of a previously visited home found the guy’s wallet in a pair of the homeowner’s overalls left at the house. The police were able to follow some fresh tracks in the snow to another house, where Goldilocks was now camping out and apprehended the guy.

So basically, while lounging around in someone else’s house, in someone else’s clothes this guy forgot to take his wallet out of the other guys pants when he took them off and left. He must have forgotten which house and whose pants he was in the last time he remembered having his wallet… And that is how he got caught.

So far, the police can account for a few homes that were broken into, but until other homeowners return when the weather warms up, they may not know for sure how many more places were targeted during the spree.

The 31-year-old guy is being charged with a preliminary count of 4 burglaries and police are attempting to recover the stolen items.

“I’ve been on 19 years and I’ve never seen anybody actually moving in and living in somebody’s residence like that,” says an officer from the Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Department. “He was just kinda running the gamut around the edges of the lake.”

Often times crime happens when no one is around to notice, and the creep is long gone by the time anyone does. Now, you can protect your home, vacation house or office with the Auto Dialer Security and Safety Alarm.

The Auto Dialer has a unique passive infrared system that monitors any motion in an area you select. When the unit is ARMED, the motion detector watches the protected area. If movement is detected, a 105db security alarm will sound and the Auto Dialer will call up to 5 preset telephone numbers selected by you. The Auto Dialer can also be used in Chime mode, such as in a store, where a chime will alert you when motion is detected.

The Auto Dialer Security and Safety Alarm is easy to set-up. Install a 9 volt battery, connect the AC adaptor ,plug in a standard telephone line and mount it to the wall. As long as you have an active phone line, you can have your vacation residence monitor itself and give you a call if anything funny is going on.

It never hurts to secure, and for less than $40, you can’t go wrong. Goldilocks be warned, these bears mean business!

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A guy in Lynchburg, Virginia was busted for burglary when greasy fingerprints on an orange juice bottle was left at the scene.

Apparently while stealing appliances, tools, jewelry and other household items, the burglar also raided the fridge. At one home, this guy helped himself to some fried chicken and oj, not the most appealing combination, but I guess beggers (or thieves) can’t be choosers. When he non-discretely disgarded the the trash, police at the scene were able to lift the chicken grease prints off of the bottle and match them to the burglar.

He ended up sentenced to six years in jail as has been found guilty of at least three counts of burglary and another two counts of grand larceny over several months.

It was also reported the 78 bags of stolen popcorn were recovered at the man’s home, among other stolen property. Details on the popcorn were not elaborated on, whether this was some strange collection of popcorn from several different locations pooled together, or if someone actually had 78 bags of popcorn in their house for him to steal all at once.

That is alot of popcorn.

Why spend hundreds of dollars on a fancy security system and pay expensive monitoring fees when you can get the Mace Wireless Security System for a fraction of the cost? This system is easy to operate security system will sound an alarm and then dial up 5 preset phone numbers to let you know motion has been detected or a door or window has opened in your home. (A standard land telephone line with “tone” dialing is required.)

The Mace Wireless Security System is a new and inexpensive way to protect you, your family, your home, your chicken, popcorn and your orange juice too.

Even small businesses would benefit greatly by the cost-effective and reliable protection provided by this wireless security system.

KFC approved, protect yourself today.

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A woman woke up in the middle of the night Sunday in her Atkinson, NH condo when she heard some noise downstairs. She found an unknown man in her living room when she proceeded to check out what was going on.

During the confrontation, the intruder grabbed her by the arm and punched her in the face. The woman then asked the man if he wanted money, which of course he said yes. The man allowed the woman to retrieve her purse, to which she pulls out a can of pepper spray, and let the creep have it.

The intruder quickly fled the house, full-faced with mace, but otherwise empty-handed. He was gone by the time the police arrived and it was determined that the man entered through a garage door that was left wide open.

1 AM in the morning, homeowner asleep, and garage door left open for the night. Not the best plan. Home Security 101, close and lock your doors. Let’s not make it that easy.

The Plaistow police attempted to track the burglar with their K-9 unit, but the dog was unsuccessful in tracking the creep down in the neighborhood.

It was good the homeowner had some pepper spray in the house, but she might have avoided the punch to the face if she had it handy while investigating the disturbance. Luckily, it was only a punch to the face, not a naked, knife wielding sex offender like yesterday’s story.

Spray first, ask questions later. As soon as you realize this person does not belong in your house, in the middle of the night, there is no courtesy. Lets not make it a habit of pepper spraying a teenager sneaking back into their house after curfew. That is another discipline issue for the next morning.

I was watching that new “Worst Week” sitcom last night. The show is basically about a man with very bad luck that is planning to tell his girlfriend’s parents that he wants to marry their daughter, and that she is carrying his child. That is if anything ever ends up going right for him.

The main character Sam, caught an intuder breaking-in to his future in-laws house after hearing there was a burglar terrorizing the nieghborhood. He even helped his girlfriend’s dad install a motion light earlier that day.

So when Sam saw this strange man attempting to gain entry into the house late at night, he smacked the guy in the head with a shovel and tied him up in the yard. When he retrieved the family to show off his handywork, his girlfriend introduced him to her brother he hadn’t met yet. “I forgot my keys” said the brother, still dazed from the shovel shot to the head. The parents were less than thankful of the gesture.

If you have seen the show or previews, this wasn’t Sam’s first blunder on his huge list of things to make his future in-laws hate him. Funny show, but it his defense, Sam really wasn’t reacting poorly to the situation.

What would you do if you saw someone breaking into your house, or someone was already in your living room that didn’t appear to belong there? The police will not get there soon enough.

You owe it to yourself and family to protect your household. Be safe, be prepared.

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Police do not anticipate any arrests, I’m thinking the evidence speaks for itself.

Indianapolis police responded to a call just after 3 AM Sunday morning and found a 64-year-old dad choking out a 52-year-old intruder on the floor in the hallway of his house.

Now this wasn’t just any petty cat burglar looking to score some jewelry and electronics. The suspect was a convicted sex offender, wearing only latex gloves and a face mask. Besides effectively being naked, he also had rope, some condoms and was wielding a knife.

From the report, the intruder entered through a window and made his way into the bedroom of the 17-year-old daughter. Upon waking up and seeing the naked man in her room, the girl screamed and alerted her father.

A struggle ensued, where the father was able to avoid being stabbed with the knife and wrestled the man to the ground. The dad got a head lock or choke hold around the creep’s neck and didn’t let go as the police were called. The intruder was pronounced dead at the scene.

Police spokesman said the sex offender had a pre-existing heart condition which may have contributed in his death. I’m sure the pummeling and choke hold may have also contributed, but lets just call it a heart attack. Of course an autopsy is planned.

Apparently, this man had already jailed for 10 years for criminal confinement and sexual deviate conduct. He also failed to register as a sex offender which listed him as wanted in Boone County to boot.

The police not anticipating any arrests and the planned autopsy kinda bothers me. Let’s repaint the picture. Its 3 AM. Your 17-year-old daughter wakes you up screaming. You find naked man, with a knife in your house, more specifically in your daughter’s bedroom.

Where exactly is there a question worth anticipating? It is pretty clear what this creep was planning. I’m thinking the dad’s self defense actions were quite justified given the situation. What would you have done?

It’s pretty obvious this repeat offender was not properly rehabilitated the last time he spent time in the slammer, pretty sure another trip wouldn’t have mattered much either. One less sexual deviant running around preying on young girls.

Sure there are some less-than-lethal self-defense options, but in the heat of the moment in the middle of the night, all bets are off. You do what you can do, without thinking about it.

Perhaps a window alarm or security system might have scared him off from this house. That just leaves him ready to pick out another house the next day, possibly a house less able to defend itself.

Some pepper spray to his face would have changed his tune real quick, and the UV identifing dye would have made it easy for the police recognize him… Because a blinded, screaming, naked guy running down the street would be hard to pin the crime on…

What if the dad wasn’t home and it was just mom and the daughter? What if the dad was stabbed, the daughter raped and possibly killed, and the same to the mother? I’m thinking this case ended up as good as could be expected. Even with this outcome, I’m sure the family is quite shaken up and will continue to be concerned with their safety.

Strategically sprinkling some self defense tools around the house is always a good idea. You never know when that can of Mace, a stun gun or other personal tool of mass destruction can save your life or the life of a loved one. Don’t wait until 3 AM in the morning when a naked sex offender is roaming your house.

Be prepared for the worst, now.

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