Residents shaken by recent home burglaries in multiple NJ towns

🚨 Montclair police investigate three overnight burglaries
🚨 Residents were home at the time
🚨 The thieves fled when confronted

There are few things more frightening than an intruder entering your home.

Home invasions connected to high-end car thefts continue to be a problem throughout New Jersey.

Sophisticated car theft rings hire thieves, often teenagers, to steal and deliver vehicles at a staggering rate. According to the FBI, a thief can be paid $2,000 per vehicle and sometimes more.

In Montclair, three home invasion burglaries were reported Tuesday night and police think they are related. In each instance, the residents were home at the time of the break-ins.

At 3:10 a.m., a man was awakened by a burglar alarm triggered when his rear door was opened. When he went to investigate, he found the door has been forced open and there was someone standing in the doorway.

The suspect grabbed a woman's purse from the home and jumped into an accomplice vehicle. After a brief police chase, the suspects got away.

In the driveway was the resident's BMW X5. Investigators suspect this is what the thieves were actually after.

There were two similar break-ins on the same night. Based on the investigation and a review of home surveillance footage, Montclair police said in a statement they believe at least one of these burglaries "is related to a burglary that occurred in Metuchen and another one in West Caldwell."

In Mercer County, Ewing police confirmed five home burglaries this week. In each case, thieves were after key fobs. Several vehicles were stolen.

Seeking an easy score

New Jersey is a prime feeding ground for car thieves. We have a lot of homes packed very close together and there is an above average number of affluent neighborhoods.

These neighborhoods are a target rich environment with plenty of high end vehicles to choose from.

With a close proximity to multiple shipping ports, a thief can steal a high value vehicle, drive it to a central location and it will be cut and stripped for parts in a matter of minutes. Those parts are loaded onto ships and the money from resale are often used to fund international terrorism, according to the FBI.

Montclair Police Lt. Terence Turner says some of the burglary crews are seeking an easy score like purses and wallets, but, “Lately it has been car keys to high end motor vehicles that have been left on the kitchen counter or near the point of entry."

The frightening part of the story is that this is increasingly happening when the residents are home. Turner says, "If the homeowner does happen to encounter the suspects, the suspects usually flee without any contact with the homeowner."

However, many in law enforcement have told me they are increasingly concerned one of these confrontations is going to result in serious injury or death of the homeowner and/or the suspect.

Gun ownership continues to rise in New Jersey with many seeking a weapon to protect their homes and families.

How much longer, police wonder, before an armed homeowner confronts a burglar and pulls the trigger.

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