Sffd103

iTrader: (16)

Sorry to hear about this happening to you. Just FYI, be careful with those locks you mentioned on your door with double keys. If you have a fire you could be trapped inside your home. I'm a firefighter and that's the only reason I say this, for you and your families safety.

shirosan

Darn, that sucks man but hopefully your insurance company will hook you up and you can get the rims you'd prefer on your nice Lexus. Best of luck and hopefully they catch the guy(s).

VDODSON

Did you kill them??

jleonard71

I talked to the president of the HOA board already, and he said they had looked into getting cameras a few years ago but the lowest price they were quoted for a system was around $30K. I told him to just pay me 1/2 that and I'll install it myself! LOL. No way that a single camera (or maybe 2, one to get the back with the plate and another to get their faces) and a system to record & store a few hundred 20-30 second video clips and/or snap shots each day costs $30K. I was able to set up my entire house with 12 outdoor vandal-proof 1080p IP cameras and a system with enough storage to records 30 days of 24/7 video for about $1500. I realize a system for the gate would need to be industrial grade, but I would think they should be able to get a few cameras and a recording system for maybe $5k max.

That's what I would think, and I even pointed that out to the officer in charge of my case. He said that in order for it to be considered an armed robbery, they would have had to "use force or at least the threat of force" during the commission of the crime, and the property would have had to be stolen from somewhere that was reasonably in my possession. I said pointing a gun at my face doesn't qualify as a "threat of force", and my car parked outside my window 10 feet away doesn't count as "reasonably within my possession"?!? Next time I'll make sure to walk outside so I'm closer to the crime being committed, and ask him what he plans to do with that gun so I can get him for armed robbery. What a joke. Bedsides, isn't that something for the courts to decide and not the cops?
Who posted pictures of him? I did post that one pic of the car from a few years ago with him sitting in it, but his face was so small and blurry you couldn't even tell if it was a guy or girl in the car. Anyways, I'll make sure not to put anything up that could possibly ID him (that's why I blurred his name & record #'s out in that other post). Besides, as much as there seems to be reasonable motivation for him (or one of his buddies) to do it, I really doubt he'd come after his wheels 5 years later. Dudes who smoke as much weed as he does (based on his FB pics & arrest record) don't tend to hold grudges for that long!

I agree, that's probably why I haven't seen them pop up anywhere. Or maybe they already had a buyer lined up. I did have one guy who pulled up next to me a few months ago at the gate of my neighborhood who appeared to be a car enthusiast (he was driving a heavily modded new Camaro SS), and rolled down his window and said he's seen my car driving around and wanted to ask about it because he really liked it and didn't know what it was. We got out and chatted for a few minutes about both of our cars, and he was particularly interested in my wheels and he even asked if he could take a few pics of them. It didn't seem out of the ordinary because I have complete strangers ask me about my car all the time. But who knows, maybe that was part of him casing me and he presented the wheels to potential buyers and found someone who wanted them and then came back and stole them.

That's one thing I'm worried about - if he knows I had nice wheels, he probably knows I'll replace them with some more nice wheels. So I'm just going to make sure to never park my car outside overnight anymore, or if I need to I'll pull it through the RV gate into the back yard so it isn't visible from the street.

Thanks for the heads up. You're not the first person to mention that to me after I installed them, and that's something I would have never thought of. I do still have 3 doors (one at each end of the house and the main front door) that don't have double-sided deadbolts since they are solid doors, so we can always get out of those in a hurry. And for the ones that do have them, I have a key within 10 feet of each door and made sure everyone in the family knows where they are. Plus, the panes of glass are basically the size of the entire door, so if it comes down to it I could just throw something through the glass and walk right through it. I doubt a criminal is going to do that though because they'd risk not only injuring themselves, but also leaving DNA (blood) at the scene. Most will just most on to an easier target unless they specifically wanted to get into my house for some reason, and if that's the case nothing you can do will keep them out anyways.

jleonard71

And thanks for all the support and feedback from everyone, it feels good to hear thoughts and experiences from others. It's not even the theft that gets me, I honestly couldn't care less about the wheels or any other physical possessions, it's the fact that I had a gun pointed at me in my own home which has completely uprooted my sense of security in the one place where one should be able to feel secure. I've been kind of keeping this all inside not talking about it much, aside from with close family and a few friends, and I think talking about in a public forum is actually helping - especially in realizing that I'm not alone, stuff like this (or worse) has happened to many other people before and they turned out just fine.

Quadrphnia

I did not. =)

Vervish

iTrader: (4)

Terrible that this happened - glad you and your family are safe.

lobuxracer

iTrader: (2)

This is why the wife insisted on a gate with a guard who checks your ID before allowing you into the subdivision. Automatic gates on a gated community only make the residents feel good. They are no more secure than leaving the gates wide open. We moved from our apartment immediately after someone broke into our garage and emptied it. You could open the door with a shovel. The next place was a gated community with a code, but they left the gates open during commute hours both morning and evening, so they really didn't do much good at all. While having a guard, requiring ID, and having the whole community fenced in helps, it still doesn't mean we don't have crime. We just have a lot less opportunity for it.

And yes, I have been robbed at gun point (in New York City, not in my community). You'll never forget it as long as you live.

jleonard71

I agree about the gate, especially in a large community with hundreds of residents. But ours is a very small neighborhood of ~40 homes, and most residents are older people (I think we're the youngest by far in our mid-30's) who aren't out late so there aren't cars coming & going at all hours of the night allowing a thief to just follow someone in. Aside from following someone in, the only way someone could get through the gate in the middle of the night is by guessing a code, which is exactly what happened. There were over 400 codes in the system at the time - 10 times more than the number of homes! - and many of them were sequential or repeated numbers. So they cleared all codes, made everyone pick a new code without sequential or repeated numbers, and instructed everyone to not allow anyone to follow you in late at night (basically pull through and wait 30 seconds for the gate to close before proceeding). They also made it so codes can't even be used between 12am-5am - you have to either use your remote clicker or call someone to buzz you in. So while I feel a little safer now, I'm definitely not going to let my guard down and we're going to keep up the strict security routine we've established since the incident.

jleonard71

Oh, and I also got two of these to put on our garage doors! http://smile.amazon.com/LiftMaster-S.../dp/B00CUQ616O

It's a direct-drive door opener which is literally impossible to force open from the outside due to the fact that it has a deadbolt that automatically engages once the door closes. Plus I can set it to auto-close after 5 mins of being open, so more turning around after I'm half way to work because I can't remember if I closed the garage door. I also purchased the $30 internet module so I can control them remotely with my phone. And it also frees up a TON of space on the ceiling because the entire center track is removed, so I'm going to install some storage and additional lights up there.

So much new cool stuff to play with (cameras, garage door openers, motion sensors, automated lights, etc) that I've been wanting to buy for a while - and now I got the green light on all of them from the boss. Plus, it'll all be covered with the leftover insurance money. Silver lining!

Sean

iTrader: (3)

Spending 15k on those wheels is much worse than anything on the previous owner's arrest record.

RedlineAZ

iTrader: (5)

Thats really cool man, I need to look into this. I just bought two belt driven motors for my new house thats being built, but the doors are glass and extremely heavy, I think I am going to burn through the overhanging motor in no time. Let me know how quiet it is compared to a typical overhanging kind.

dannyk8232

Just a couple random thoughts from reading through this thread....

Sorry you had to go through this ordeal.

It seems interesting to me that you had recently placed an order for the wheel lock key for those obscure, pricey rims just prior to them being jacked. Was the key shipped to your home address?

With regards to the new garage door opener - I'm always skeptical of phone network security, so I'd make sure the password controlling the lock on the garage door on my phone is very complex.

Glad you're ok, which is the most important thing by far!

jleonard71

DEAD SILENT!! I had belt-driven motors before and they were quiet at first, but developed a lot of noise over time and the trolley tracks had to be frequently wiped down and lubricated to keep the noise down. It's such an outdated type of system, I really don't understand why they are still even used. Direct drive systems have been around forever, just mainly only in industrial settings. They are quieter, stronger, have a longer lifespan, take up less space, put less stress on the door components (springs & wheels), and they're more secure. And they don't cost much more than an antiquated belt or chain driven system. My advice - return the ones you bought and get 2 of these!

Here's a nice in-depth review where you can see how it installs and watch it in action:

VDODSON

I hate North Dakota, but the one thing I will admit about this place is that its safe. Folks leave their cars running while in stores, and crime is extremely low. If I was back in Chandler AZ I would definitely invest in a home alarm unit, and carry my 1911 everywhere, as well as in the car and maybe even a pop up shotgun concealed in my couch. Sorry this happened to you, hope things work out.