FORTY FORT, Pa. — What started as a normal morning for Tyler Rosengrant of Forty Fort quickly changed when he woke up in the early morning hours to take care of his son.
"Initially, I thought maybe I had parked in front of somebody's driveway, and I had gotten towed," Rosengrant said. "Just a normal day making coffee, my wife comes downstairs, other kid comes downstairs getting ready for school. I look outside, and I noticed my car wasn't there. And my wife thought I was joking."
But he wasn't. Rosengrant's 2012 Ford Fusion was stolen from outside his home on West Pettebone Street.
It's one in a recent string of car thefts and break-ins that Forty Fort police have been seeing over the past two weeks.
Another theft happened on Durkee Street.
"Randomized car thefts, it's crimes of opportunity," said Forty Fort Asst. Police Chief Adam Michaels.
Michaels says the thieves are trying as many cars as they can, waiting to get lucky with someone who forgot to lock their doors.
"Surveillance video that we saw, they are trying different door handles. If the doors are unlocked, that's when they're going through the vehicles, seeing any valuables they can grab. If the keys are left in the vehicles, then they're taking the vehicles."
Police remind neighbors to lock doors and not leave valuables inside their cars.
They're asking anyone with surveillance cameras or video doorbells to check the footage.
"If anyone sees anything suspicious, we're asking them to call 911 immediately. If anyone has cameras, we're asking them to review the cameras," Michaels said.
Rosengrant has those security measures on his house, but he says it still wasn't enough.
"It didn't help. I didn't get a notification. And I spoke to the officer, and he said they wear masks and gloves anyways."
Forty Fort police also say they're working with Kingston police, Luzerne county officials, and the state police auto theft task force to try to track down the crooks.
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