FRANKLIN COUNTY, Ohio (WCMH) -- Franklin County Sheriff's Office detectives investigate twelve neighborhood burglaries that may be connected.
The suspect, Robert Delp Jr, was arrested last week after the Sheriff’s Office said he was caught leaving one burglarized home in possession of valuables from another home. Delp was arrested and deputies are working to figure out if he was involved in some or all of the cases.
Detective Caleb Loposser said the string of burglaries in Jefferson Township, Genoa Township, and New Albany have many similarities, and he is trying to connect Delp to them.
“It fits the pattern of motive of what we’ve seen in a lot of the other burglaries. Now I don’t know definitively if he did commit those, but I know that we’ve investigating it to see if he did,” said Detective Loposser.
The detective said all twelve crimes happened in the same general area northeast of Columbus where the suspect broke in and exited through a rear window. Jewelry and cash were taken from just one bedroom, and they all happened in the early evening right after dark. Even with Delp arrested, Loposser said people in central Ohio should be looking at their security.
“How much access do you give individuals to your personal life? You know, do you post your jewelry items on your social media account like ‘Look what I got for Christmas, look at this pretty necklace?’” said Loposser. “Where’s our security footage at? What type of alarm system do we have?”
In one of the neighborhoods burglarized in Jefferson Township, residents were out and about Friday afternoon. Residents said everyone there is vigilant.
“But we do know each other and we know who walks in the neighborhood and whose dog is whose which really helps,” said neighbor Robyn Lutz. “And we have security and just kind of take care of each other.”
“Everybody pretty much has their own security system but the neighborhood is monitored when you drive in and it talks about how the whole entire neighborhood has camera monitoring which makes it safe,” said another neighbor Lisa Riddle.
One resident said she beefed up her security after someone tried to break into her back door about six months ago. It’s unknown if this attempt is connected to the ones Detective Loposser is investigating. Even with the burglaries and other attempts, people said they feel pretty safe in the neighborhood.
“We have our security system. We try to stay vigilant. I mean what else are you supposed to do? And then I’ve got my excellent security that’s sitting out here and they bark and that’s a big deterrent as well,” said Riddle.
“We already have really good security but just kept more vigilant watch about who was walking in the neighborhood and if we recognize them,” said Lutz.
Detective Loposser wants people all across central Ohio to think about security because even generally safe neighborhoods are targeted.
“Usually we kind of run into a little bit of that mentality when you start to deal with some of your nicer neighborhoods. Like, ‘We don’t have crime out here, we don’t have that problem here.’ Until you do,” said the detective. “So definitively right now there’s three neighborhoods within the Jefferson Township area that can’t sit back and go, ‘We don’t have that problem here.’"
To keep your home safe, Loposser recommends people get the best security system they can afford, leave a light or the TV on when no one is home, and get a few cameras for your yard. These are all deterrents to keep criminals away.
