crime-victims of 2 home break ins last week
Posted by:
bugmanandco
(---.nc.res.rr.com)
Date: December 02, 2008 04:54PM
We returned from St Martin Sunday night (11/30/08) and want people to know that there is crime on the island and our family is lucky that the only thing stolen from us are things as at least one of our thieves had a knife. Below is a note to our travel agent and the on island manager. I have taken out names. PLEASE read if you are traveling to St Martin. We were in a multi million dollar home right on the Beach in Pelican Key.
I don’t know if xxx has been informed that our villa was broken into early yesterday morning. My husband confronted one of the thieves as he was making his way toward the bedrooms and my son came flying down. They screamed and chased them and fortunately my husband grabbed the remote with the panic button on his way out of the bedroom so he was able to turn the alarm on immediately. We did not set the alarm because we had some trouble with it going off during the week. I honestly don’t know if it was a problem with the alarm or with the operators. We were able to see the other trying to steal our rental car when we played back the video cameras, he wasn’t able to get the gate open; we will have to pay Avis to rekey. A computer, camera, blackberry and a small amount of money was taken. They had also taken several other things, some were in my daughter’s bag and left on the table, others were dropped on the beach and around the house along with a 6-8 inch fillet knife. My son told me that (on island manager) indicated in an initial call that “that is why you should put the storm shudders downâ€. We were never told that we should do this, actually told by the housekeeper that locking the doors was adequate. We now know that the sliding doors can be popped open with a knife or screwdriver as the far door has a small indentation in it. I would suggest that this information should be included in both (rental) information if storm shudders should be closed.
After we talked to you yesterday, xxx, we watched the tape to find out when that video camera had been pushed up with the 2x4 that is against the wall. It happened at about the same time 4:15 ish on Friday morning, you can see a shadow and then the camera goes dark. Remember that we told you that my husband and daughter were pick pocketed at (restaurant) on Thursday night? Well now it stands to reason that they were in the house Friday morning as well and that is where that money went, particularly as they took my daughter’s last $5 out of her wallet on Sunday morning, which wasn’t with the other things. It doesn’t really look like a normal wallet, but it was lying with my husbands on the bar on Thursday night, so it would be logical to look. My son remembers getting up to go to the bathroom about that time, flushing the commode and hearing a footstep. He started down the stairs, but didn’t hear anything else and thought that I had been up (not at all unusual) and that is what had woken him up.
It is obvious that they were watching the house and the owners and (housekeeper) need to be informed. My son spoke to 2 different clerks at the airport; they assumed his lost voice was due to a night of partying so he explained. They both indicated that crime is up on the island recently. xxx, you would know if that is the case or not, but regardless, some changes need to be made to the information that guests receive.
We are still shaky, my husband and son have no voice as they stressed their vocal cords, but we are very happy that we are all safe, the knife and realization that this could have ended differently have made us very grateful for our family.