A resident’s call led Cedar Springs Police to investigate numerous thefts from unlocked vehicles and garages this week.
According to Cedar Springs Police Chief Roger Parent, police received a call early Monday morning, at 3:08 a.m., from a person who reported that he saw people trying to gain entry into a neighbor’s garage. Officer Paul Feutz arrived in the area along with a back-up patrol unit from the City of Rockford.  Officers saw some of the suspects fleeing and eventually detained some of those who were involved.
All involved suspects were young adults.  One suspect, who had some of the stolen property in the truck of his car, was from Coral, Michigan. The others had local Cedar Springs addresses.
Parent said these young men covered a good portion of the city looking for vehicles that were not locked and/or attempted to enter into garages that were open. Items recovered consisted of Ipods, a camera, GPS units, a spotting scope, sunglasses, and lap-top computer.  Some of the victims were identified that same morning and others have come into the police department to report items being stolen from their vehicles.  “If you feel you were a victim with property stolen from your vehicle, we encourage you to call or come into the police department,” said Parent.
He said that additional work needs to be done before the investigation will be presented to the prosecutor for charges.
“We remind residents not to leave valuables in an unlocked vehicle,” cautioned Parent. “Because we have a safe community, we often become far too comfortable leaving items inside of a vehicle or leaving entry doors to a garage unlocked. In this case, one night of roaming thieves has caused a considerable amount of work for the police and affected many residents.”