Video catches burglars inside Altamonte Springs home

Gated community targeted by thieves

ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, Fla. – Investigators in Altamonte Springs are hoping video caught on a home surveillance system will help them solve a burglary.

The burglary occurred last week in the Country Creek subdivision, just north of Maitland Boulevard and east of Bear Lake Road.

The video is enough to haunt any homeowner, but it's certainly not what Gus and Lyla Fraga expected to ever catch on their newly installed digital camera monitoring system.

"It's horrible," Lyla Fraga said. "You feel like your home is your safe place and when people come into your home during the day, the middle of the day, and when you see it and know who's done it, who did it and you can't control it, it's awful."

Police said the Fraga's home was burglarized on April 14 just after 11 a.m. A camera on the back porch caught the two burglars casually walking onto the deck. Moments later, they smashed the glass on the back door, went inside and started collecting things.

According to the police report, the burglars smashed the glass table in the middle of the family room and knocked the television console over on to the table.

The video shows the two carrying a 60-inch TV from the family room out the front door after they ransacked the couple's bedroom and took other electronics and valuables, including $30,000 in jewelry.

"The one thing that just kills me is all her jewelry (was stolen)," Gus Fraga said. "So, things that were given to her from her mom and her grandmother, things like that and those can't be replaced."

Exterior cameras on a neighbor's home captures pictures of a dark blue or black Pontiac Grand Am the burglars loaded up and took off in.

The Fragas said the vehicle circled their cul-de-sac before the driver dropped the two burglars off and came back.

Police are hoping the video will generate some tips and help them make some arrests. The Fraga's just hope it will prevent other people from having to deal with what they're dealing with.

"The main thing is just the pain that we've gone through," Gus Fraga said. "She woke up the other night with nightmares and it's just a terrible thing for anyone to experience."

Police described one of the culprits as a black male, 5 feet 10 inches tall and 160 pounds, wearing a white T-shirt, dark colored athletic shorts with blue sneakers. The other man was described as a black male, 6 feet 2 inches, 175 pounds and wearing a gray long-sleeved shirt with white on the bottom and white lettering on the front.

The duo is expected to be in their late teens or possibly early 20s, according to police. A third person is believed to have been driving a getaway vehicle and acting as a lookout.

Anyone with any information about this burglary or the people involved is asked to call Crimeline at 800-423-TIPS.


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