EAGLE MOUNTAIN, Utah (ABC 4 News) – A rash of burglaries in Eagle Mountain has a close-knit neighborhood on alert.
Staci Butler and her family are picking up the pieces after a burglar not only invaded their home, but desecrated their sanctuary.
Butler said, "They took a lot from us, not just things but a piece of our safety away."
Butler is just one of several families in the Eagle Mountain neighborhood that have fallen victim to greedy criminals. Five families have reported their homes burglarized in the past month. One family reported as much as $10,000 stolen from their home.
Utah County Sheriff’s Sgt. Spencer Cannon said most of the burglaries were crimes of opportunity. “At least three of them were burglaries that occurred when the suspect entered an open garage door,” said Sgt. Cannon.
In the case of the Butlers, the crime did happen in the middle of the day, but police say they don’t believe it’s connected to the others. This one felt more personal, because after taking what they wanted, and vandalizing what they didn’t, the criminals did something even more disgusting.
Butler said, "They had urinated all over her bed and left feces on her bed."
Sgt. Cannon says he’s never seen anything like this before. “It’s bad enough to be victimized and have life exposed in that way and privacy is violated like that, but then to have somebody do that on top of that, makes bad worse."
Sgt. Cannon says it’s very unusual and is doesn't line up with other recent burglaries in the neighborhood. "There are some other factors that make us think this is a little unusual; possibly somebody the victim knows. We don't know that yet, but those are some of the things we're considering."
Since the sheriff's office says most of these burglaries are crimes of opportunity, they're asking homeowners to keep their garage doors closed and their doors locked anything to ensure they don’t become an easy target for criminals.
