Vehicle burglaries spike in Pflugerville
Pflugerville police are recommending residents lock their vehicles and bring in any belongings following an increase in vehicle burglaries in July.
As of July 27, the Pflugerville Police Department had received 44 reports of burglaries of motor vehicles that month, according to a news release. At least 10 of those burglaries occurred between July 25 and July 26 in the Springbrook Enclave subdivision, with nine others occurring the previous evening in the Gatlinburg subdivision.
Police arrested three suspects in connection to burglaries on the night of July 24.
Michael Abrego, 19, Cobey Hill, 18, and a male juvenile face a charge of engaging in organized criminal activity and three counts of burglary of a vehicle, the release says. Hill is also charged with evading arrest, it says.
Officers recovered multiple firearms and are working with Austin police to retrace one of them, which officials said they believe was stolen in Austin, the release says.
Police received video footage of one man looking through vehicles about 1:46 a.m. July 26 in the Springbrook Enclave subdivision. The man walks up to two vehicles in a driveway and opens their doors, which were unlocked.
The spike in vehicle burglaries in July comes after only 17 were reported in June, according to data provided by the police department.
But in May, police listed 53 vehicle burglaries.
In the release, Pflugerville police recommended:
Always lock your car doors, no matter where your vehicle is parked. Take all belongings with you. If you must leave an item in your vehicle, place it in your trunk or somewhere else out of plain view to avoid a break-in.
Install a home security camera. The footage provided by these cameras is incredibly helpful to detectives working a case.
“It’s important to take your valuables with you when you leave your car, and to secure your vehicle by locking it,” Pflugerville Police Chief Jessica Robledo said in the release. “We are strengthening patrol of neighborhoods and working to solve these cases, but we also need the community’s help to make criminals’ jobs more difficult.”
Anyone with information on the vehicle burglaries is asked to call police at 512-990-5700.