Burglars Hitting Homes During Funerals – Here’s One Way to Prevent Them

All you have to do is pick up a local paper and see the number of burglaries being reported on a daily basis.

Scary, no?

Could be drugs, the lousy state of the economy, any reason you can give to what the root cause of them is.

So while locking down the home when no one’s around is essential, its especially so during the time when you’re most vulnerable emotionally; which would be during a funeral.

Simple solution – tell the funeral director you don’t want an obituary printed in the paper.

Seems easy enough, but according to this story, this is one of the tools thieves use to find an opportune time to break into your home.

They'll look for any opportunity. The more brazen ones, those that are addled on drugs, may just break in when everyone’s home having dinner; but a good many seize the opportunity generally when there’s no one around.

According to this:

Police in two towns have charged a man and a woman with burglarizing the homes of people recently deceased while their families were at their funerals.

Andrew McCloskey, 41, of Monroe Township, and Nichelle Thau, 28, of Sicklerville allegedly sought out their victims in obituaries. McCloskey was jailed, but Thau was still on the loose as of Friday.

Both are accused of two burglaries in Medford Township, Burlington County, and McCloskey is charged with one in Franklin Township.

Police said the duo would check for recently deceased people in the obituaries, then find their addresses in the white pages. Come funeral time, they’d strike, investigators said.

McCloskey was arrested Friday after police executed a search warrant in his home and vehicle. They said they found two guns, a shotgun and a rifle, stolen in the Franklin Township burglary, along with jewelry and other items taken from the Medford Township homes.

In the latter town, police allege McCloskey and Thau broke into a Marlton Pike home on May 24 and a Tallowood Drive home on May 31. Each is charged there with two counts of burglary, two counts of theft, criminal mischief and possession of a handgun.

Bail for each was set at $202,500.

In Franklin, McCloskey is charged with burglarizing a Morris Avenue home on June 1. He’s charged there with burglary, theft, criminal mischief, trespassing, possession of a weapon and possession by a person not to have weapons.

Additional bail on the Franklin charges was set at $50,000, and McCloskey was committed to Gloucester County Jail.

Imagine coming back from the cemetery or service just to find your home’s been ransacked by burglars? It’s enough just to have gone through the emotion of a funeral.

So in the event you don’t posses an alarm system (which these days is a wise investment); skip the obit.