Hillbrooke's Community Website

Local News - SAFETY ALERT: Criminal Activity in nearby Wingate
Date Posted: Jan 20, 2010

From Mark Zana, board member who lives on Ashwind Trace east of Windbrooke Way.

My next door neighbors had their house broken into this evening at 8:00 pm, while their teenage daughter was home alone upstairs. Luckily, they have two dogs who scared the guy off minutes after he entered their back door, but minutes later someone attempted to get into our house while my daughter was home with a babysitter. He kicked at my front door and then went around to the back door (unless there were two people). Our babysitter took our daughter and hid in an upstairs closet before calling me (I was at the tennis courts) and then the police. This all happened within minutes after I left my house and my neighbor's mother left her house, as if someone had seen us leave.

Thankfully nobody was hurt and nothing was damaged or stolen, but this was a pretty brazen attempt. Our neighbor only saw one man from behind as he was running out her back door, but he was dressed in jeans, a black sweatshirt, gloves and a black knitted beanie cap. She described him as well over six feet tall and heavily built, but didn't see his face and couldn't tell his skin color. My daughter and our babysitter only saw a silhouette of a man on our deck, it was too dark to get a description but they thought he had a navy blue or black sweatshirt on. The John 's Creek police were here in minutes, they got to my house just minutes after I did, and did a thoroughly professional job. They mentioned that given the economy these types of incidents are on the rise in this area and that the perpetrators are mostly looking for cash and jewelry, small things they can carry in their pockets.

Johns Creek Police Department offers these suggestions to help prevent break-ins around your home:

Always keep your garage doors closed.
Keep your doors and windows locked, especially when someone is home alone.
Use your exterior lighting throughout the night. If a nearby street light is not functioning normally, contact Sawnee EMC to report it. Thieves do not want to be seen!
ALWAYS call the police at the first sign of suspicious behavior. With your help we can make Johns Creek an un-inviting place for criminal activity and criminals.
Remove all valuables from your vehicles, or at least from view, when parked in driveways or public places.
When hiding items such as GPS and MP3 devices, also remove the holders from the windshield and cords used to plug them in. Otherwise, thieves know the devices are probably in the glove compartment.
Keep cars in the driveway and off the street.

Criminal activity increases during tough economic times. These are tough economic times. We must all be more vigilant to keep Windgate safe.

UPDATE on Criminal Activity

We now have three eyewitness' that describe the possible home invaders from the other night as:

Two black males, one identified as 6’ 2 jeans, black sweatshirt, skull cap, driving red jeep Cherokee.
There is a Johns Creek Police Officer assigned to the case. His name is Duane Ferree and he can be reached at 678-474-1600. Our case number is 2010-00178. This number can and should be shared and he should be contacted if anyone has information pertaining to this or any other suspicious activity in our neighborhood.

From what witness' have reported, the car was passing in the area then parked close to Ashland and walked up to the homes in Windgate.

If you see this vehicle with possible described persons or if you have any information, Please DO NOT HESITATE to call the Police.