This morning we got one of those phone calls you hate to get. The Jemez Pueblo Police called and asked if we owned a green Yamaha ATV. Answer: yes.  Next they asked if we had given permission to anyone to use the ATV. Answer: No.  Turns out thieves were there probably last night or early this AM. They broke the padlock off the shed where they found a 6 foot steel digging / prying bar they used to pry open the barn doors where the ATV was stored. The same bar was used to do one of the best/worst demolitions of the cabin door. 

Good news is the police apprehended one person in possession of the stolen ATV and a 12 gauge shotgun we kept in the cabin. The cop saw the ATV being driven on a public road, a no-no here, and did a traffic stop. We pick the ATV up from the police impound tomorrow. The thieves packed the three totes on it with assorted camping gear, some tools and a bunch of our favorite oatmeal from the cabin. We met with county detectives up there and I already have the shotgun back.

Missing still are some biggish items; Honda EU2000i, ATV utility trailer, Husky chain saw, 40" TV and some ammo, about 400 .22LR, 100 .45LC and 50 assorted 12 gauge shells.  And a bunch of smaller stuff like 2 way radios, IR thermometer, gasoline....  With any more luck we had with the timely apprehension of one of the thieves we may recover some other goods. And then maybe not.

Our neighbors were also hit. We know this happened after Wed night because James was there then. 

That totally sucks, very sorry to hear.  You always assume you are safe in the country, but criminals are criminals.  Did you have any kind of surveillance setup, maybe some game cams or other?  This is what freaks me out about our new cabin, it may be empty for periods of time and I need to find a way to secure it or at least notify me as soon as something goes wrong.  Sounds like a remote monitoring systems is in order...  not sure what will work in Canada though. 

Problem is the system doesn't take this kind of thing very seriously.  You have to wonder if they did like in some other countries and chop the thieves hands off if that would deter them from ever trying it again.  Too little jail time (3 squares and a roof over your head) and not enough real deterrent. 

Hope you recover as much as possible.  Are you also insured?  Anything you plan to do to for the future?

Don sorry to hear about the breakin. But with today's society it is bound to happen sooner or later.  This is something I have seen many times before.  You are fortunate that the police got an early leed and are actively following up.  Hopefully they can determine who else was involved and recover the additional property. 

With a remote seasonal cabin it is almost impossible to safeguard against this.  The best suggestion is to document any serial numbers of valuables and photograph the items.  A couple trail cams are good to later identify persons involved.  The police have been for years a "reactive" force rather than a "proactive" and I wouldn't look for that to change.  You might check some of the pawn shops in the area to see if any of your property shows up. 

Bummer, I hate a thief.
Instead of 3 hots and a cot, actually the ancient deterrent for breaking and entering was the thief was buried just outside of the wall. As one guy with a large excavator said, "The county can only go down 12 feet"

I didn't think to take a photo until I had removed the locks. Never took a photo of the door jamb but it has lots of splits.




I used the sawsall to trim of the mangled metal. Then screwed a 1x6  inside and outside. Mounted a gate/shed latch and used a padlock today.



Next time, some paint.

Surprised they took that much effort on the door.  Generally they would kick in and the jam would split out.  If that didn't work a window is usually the next entry point.  Looks like they were determined.  Any further info from the investigators?

The only reason they might have not smashed in a window is the distance above ground. You really need a ladder to go in/out a window. There were a couple of good boot prints on the face of the door but I used some very long screws that reached right into the double studs. Probably not a good thing to have done in hindsight. Being remote they had little to fear from passers by.

They came in on at least one ATV, through the national forest and cut the top wire in the 4 wire fence. Then they drove thru/over it. I have not been in contact with the detectives since, but do have some items to add to the missing list and will be checking with them tomorrow or Monday. A police friend here tells me the firearm theft will add substantially to the woes of the guy on the ATV.

Locks
Just slows 'em down long enough to get a bead on 'em

They'll go thru walls if they figger the effort is worth it

Glad we live at our cabin

being robbed is akin to being raped

....(not that I'd know)

On the bright side, we have one person in jail and some sort of undisclosed links to many other break ins in the area. We also have names of 2 others but they are hiding. No word on any further goods recovery.

Damn!  That sucks!  Sorry to hear it Don!

Sorry to hear about this. Some people just suck!

This makes me so mad... Cut off a hand as done in some countries? ... I like the excavator idea better.   

I'd obviously never vote on cutting off a hand, but tell me, do you think the current criminal system is working?  How many Americans are in prison right now, how many would repeat the same crime or worse if let out, and how much does it cost the American tax payer?  Cutting off a hand is severe, but that person would not steal another TV, and knowing that was the punishment the next would be thief would likely think twice. 

I think the current system sucks and protects absolutely nobody.  A home owner should be allowed to equip their homes with life threatening security systems.  Not sure how it works in the states, but in Canada if a thief breaks into my home and breaks his leg trying to steal my TV, I am the one is blamed for it.

I know that booby traps will get you into trouble.

I wonder about something less harmful but more identifying... say for example a super bright pink ink that get sprayed all over the person (like the ink packs in banks when money was stolen in the old movies making the thieves more visible to police).  If you see two punks walking down the street covered in bright pink ink then you know they just robbed someone.

Interesting. I'd hate to forget, and open the door......

Neat idea... one problem is the workmen that caretake or get called from afar to go take a look at a cabin. I got an email last week to check on things at one, very common. There are often things people can check remotely nowadays and if they get a trouble reading someone runs out there... I doubt I look good in pink and you know it would happen  But you are onto something, somehow.

The retaliatory laws we've been talking about largely come from Hammurabi. I think a good bit of that was they didn't have prisons or the leisure to maintain them;
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code_of_Hammurabi

I don't believe that a lot of people in prison should be there, but for those who should be there I think work should be mandatory, be it farm, road, or some other work that benefits society.

It's apparently a practice that still lives on today in some regions.

"Right hands have been cut off at the wrist as punishment for theft in Sharia-controlled areas of Nigeria and in Saudi Arabia. Repeat offenders in the latter country can lose both hands, and legs are sometimes taken for other offenses."

http://www.newsweek.com/worlds-most-barbaric-punishments-74537

Maybe a security system that activates a camera, and if you have visual confirmation then you can press a button and it clouds the area with this dye.
Another problem would be that all your personal effects are not a bright pink color... not my favorite color either.

And yet, many of those places that do practice retaliatory law are some of the most dangerous and lawless places on earth. It feels good in the moment to bluster but it doesn't create what most think of as a good or advanced people.

I doubt the owner of the property would be available to monitor the security camera often enough to hit the ink button. When I got the email the other day they were probably out of range by the time I got out there, again very common. The places I was working last week were generally out of range as far as monitoring my property... even if I had remembered to take a phone    That was of concern a few years ago, we had a string of over 30 break ins, one was the property I was asked to check on above. The kid hit everything around us. Living here, we had dogs out which worked for us but wouldn't work for the vacation properties that kid was robbing.

    Good news; 3 more people arrested. The ATV guy's mother one of them.  A family affair apparently.  Some more property recovered but none identified as ours at this point. The police have about 40+ lists to go through and match against the recovered property. So we have a stop to this particular gang of thieves. Hopefully for a long time.  Waiting word on court date.

That is good news.  You are fortunate as the percentage of clearance is not that great on property crimes.  Hopefully further interviews of the perps will yield additional information and possibly the location of more property.  Most likely will end up in a pawn shop where they got just a fraction ( 10-20%) of the actual worth.  The wheels of justice turn very slow so it may be a while before trial time. 

I spoke with the detective again this afternoon. He said the two brothers did all the breaking and entering. They have a history. The others had some stolen goods in their possession. The police have connected them with three burglaries so far... going by what goods have been connected to other burgled cabins. One other firearm theft included. Most of the stolen goods were disposed of to a third party across the river in Albuquerque. So most goods may never be seen again.

Happy to hear they caught them anyway.  Now if they will just permanently keep them. 

Hate to read about the dastardly things some folks are compelled to do.
Especially to my friends

But

If yer anything like me, sometimes you yerself can compound the situation in the aftermath.

Here's sumpm I figgered out a few days ago (you guys prolly already know this);

If

You lock the padlock on the staple
You will never accidently lock yerself out
(works on the hasp to, if yer concerned with door bump)






keep a fire

Now we are waiting on the wheels of justice... have no idea if the grind will be set to coarse or fine.  One of the brothers already had been out with an ankle bracelet tracker. He had cut that off so he could participate in the burglaries without including that in his track history.

Gary, re padlocks... my paranoid side always has me locking the lock onto the hasp because of my (irrational?) fear of somebody coming along and locking me inside the building.