Burglars Suck Police Rule

Anyone reading our posts in this website know that we are enjoying our adventure that led us to Grenada, and that we are feeling more comfortable, safe, and content here every day. Yes, we have been enjoying a relaxed approach to our retired life, and Cyndi likes a couple of palm trees here... might be a decision coming soon...

But then, just to throw a wrench in the works, one Thursday evening we go to bed at 10:00 pm as usual and wake up the next morning with a new reality. The rose coloured glasses fell off our faces that morning. During the night, a young man broke into our suite and entered our bedroom while we were sleeping to steal money from our wallets...just inches from where we slept.

The security on our front door includes a door knob that has a door lock (key outside with thumb turn inside), a deadbolt keyed both sides, and a heavy duty hotel latch... you know the kind you swing into place to stop the maid from coming in. Anyway, it has been a couple of degrees warmer lately and so we left the sliding window open in the living room that overlooks the balcony. The window has a bug screen to stop the nasty blood suckers from coming in, and it has wrought iron bars to stop intruders. It is always nice to have the cool breezes drift into the apartment through the evening and into the night.

As you can see from the photos, our apartment was built with a 20 inch wall space separating the window and front door. Late in the evening we had a new neighbour visit us as he had a question about the building. When we unlocked the front door for him, we left the keys hanging in the lock on the interior side of the deadbolt. Note to self – don't do that again. During the wee hours of that Friday morning, a 19 year old man moved our deck chair, cut through the bug screen, and extended his long skinny arms through the security bars to reach the hotel latch and the thumb turn on the door handle, and then turned the key in the deadbolt that we had so conveniently left there.

In he comes to our suite, peeking as he goes. He left fingerprints on the wall outside the window and the front door when he leaned in to peek (we taped up some paper with arrows where the police needed to check...). He also left more prints on the bedroom door frame when he leaned in to check for any movement.

As it turned out, we slept through the entire event as his pilfering fingers slipped money out from both of our wallets. He searched through a carry-all shopping bag that we use when we go out, and he pulled the contents onto the floor looking for cash. It was right next to where Cyndi was sleeping with her head on the pillow. That must have been the first bag he looked at as there was nothing missing. He only wanted cash. Cyndi's wallet was in her purse and mine was in the cargo pocket of my shorts – both on the floor by the foot of the bed. He got about EC$500.00 in total. All of our electronic stuff (computers, phones, cameras, music players, etc.), were all right where we had left them the night before.

The next morning we both felt confused about the whole thing. It was odd that things had been moved about and it didn't really dawn on us right away... it made us think back to the day before and how we might have lost our money. That discussion started when we noticed we didn't have any money for the bus... yes, we are slow on the uptake. I guess we always think the best of others before we jump to conclusions...

Anyway, we decided that we had to go to the bank before heading into town. After our daily chores were done and volunteer activities at GARP were finished, we arrived home again just after 4pm. Cyndi couldn't help thinking about it all day long and she was saying to me that she thought we were robbed.

So we arrived at the front door ready to relax for the evening with a cool one, and Cyndi noticed that the screen on the front window had been cut along the edge, allowing access through the corner of the window to reach in to the door locks... We didn't notice it in the morning before we left as the curtain covered the tear.

Long story short, the police came to take fingerprints and view the security camera footage from the main office (the burglar was on it) and they caught the guy in two days! Amazing. Here is a link:

http://www.nowgrenada.com/2017/07/wanted-man-johanson-jason-baptiste/

We made formal written statements at the Grand Anse Police Station. We were told by the police that he had hit 5 places the same night, and that he admitted to all of it. We also found out that he had been in jail previously for doing the same thing. Maybe this time they will keep him longer so he has more time to think about things. We are very thankful for the swift and professional action of the police, and for their knowledge of local scum-bags (....Johanson Baptiste).

We asked to speak with him when we went to the station. They brought him out of his cell and he sat two feet away from me in the interview room. No barrier, no handcuffs on him. I gave him a long speech saying it's time for him to grow up, be a respectable man and live right, but I think it all went in one ear and out the other. The female officer sitting in the room with us agreed as she could see his eyes rolling when I said things.

Cyndi asked him "how would you like it if your parents had someone come into their bedroom to rob them while they were sleeping?" He replied, "I would be angry". Then he admitted to us that he was in our apartment and said he was sorry. We asked him if he still had our money as we wanted it back. He said he had already spent it. I asked him how long it would take for him to earn the money if he had a job, so he could pay us us back. He said it would take more than a month. So I let him know that we won't be leaving Grenada any time soon, and that we will expect our money back when he gets out of jail. We can't understand how anyone would risk going to jail for the equivalent of CAN$250.00

I suppose this type of thing happens all over the world - a similar incident happened to us while we lived in Vancouver. Many things were stolen from our apartment including expensive and sentimental jewelry. The police took fingerprints of where he broke in but didn't even bother looking for our stuff as the City is too big.

It kinda helps to put things into perspective when the Grenada Police Force can catch the guy within 48 hours of when we got them on the case. All is well again, we feel safer here than in Vancouver, and we can sleep contently.

I wrote a nice long commendation letter to Sargeant in charge of the investigation and capture. I hope he gets recognized by his superiors for his great work.