Wake Forest on alert after recent car break-ins

WAKE FOREST, North Carolina (WTVD) -- Recent break-ins throughout several communities have led Wake Forest Police to issue an alert reminding residents to lock their cars.

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According to Wake Forest Communications & Public Affairs Director Bill Crabtree, there have been 85 reported cases of car break-ins and the police department believes "well over 95 percent" of those cases involve unlocked vehicles.

Police reports show at least 10 incidents of motor vehicle break-ins since July 1 along Gross Avenue in Caddell Woods.

"You feel violated," said resident Rebekah Presnell.

In April, Presnell left her car unlocked and thieves rummaged through her vehicle. Even though nothing valuable was taken or broken, she was still upset and said it's about the principle.

"The point of somebody just checking to see if it's open, you have no right going through my stuff," Presnell said.

In neighboring Shearon Farms, resident Lisa Ashe also fell victim to thieves. Ashe just returned home from vacation and credits her decision to carry fewer items.

"I had my credit card in there, my debit card in there, my social security cards, my insurance cards," Ashe said. "All of those things were sprawled out in the middle of the road somewhere."

Ashe routinely locks her car door and says one of the family cars in the driveway was locked. However, her Honda Pilot was not locked at the time of the crime.

"We had came in and we were planning to go back out and decided against that ... that one moment we slipped, it happened," Ashe told ABC11.

Several miles away, resident Elizabeth Russell was also victimized. Russell is on heavy medication for severe back pain and other medical issues. She told ABC11 that she is going through withdrawals from not having her medication.

"This week has been horrible ... I need my medication to function," Russell said.

She says her side effects have included nausea, chills, and stomach issues, among other things. Russell filed a police report and went to her pharmacist for more medication, but was denied another prescription.

"(My pharmacy) that it's in my pain contract, that anything that's been lost or stolen, they won't do anything for it," Russell said.

Wake Forest Police continually remind residents to lock their car doors and refrain from leaving valuables in vehicles.