Bold Burglar Strikes When Victims Are Home: Cops

Police said they believe the same man has broken into about two-dozen homes in old East Dallas since March.

Most of the crimes occurred overnight when the victims were at home.

"As best as we can tell, he has not invited any kind of confrontation with any of the complainants, but it’s only a matter of time before some type of confrontation occurs," Senior Cpl. Janice Crowther said.

Joseph Ruggiero said he and his wife woke up at about 5 a.m. to discover an open window and missing computers and cameras.

"It's scary," he said. "It's maddening, very maddening."

Two homes were hit three times during the spree. The woman renting one of them moved away because of the crimes. Neighbors of the other triple crime scene said they are nervous.

Brent Balch and his wife live next door with a 4-month-old baby.

"That's brazen," he said. "Anybody that's going to do that, you're going to think, first off, they’re armed, going into somebody’s house while they’re home."

Crowther said loud noise or bright lights, including motion-sensitive lighting, scared the burglar away from some homes.

Investigators said victims have not gotten a good look at the man. Police said investigators only know that he is tall and thin with curly hair.

Police urged people to securely lock all their windows and doors and set burglar alarms to operate when they are home, as well as when they are away.

"That alarm will alert you, and then you can go to plan B as far as doing whatever you need to do to protect yourself," Crowther said.

Police and victims said they want neighbors help to be on the lookout for suspicious activity that may help capture the man.