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Times already were tough for Michael Brown. The 46-year-old was out of work.
Now he's also out a 50-inch plasma television.
Thieves who broke into his home last week near 65th Street and Ames Avenue didn't get away with the television, though.
Brown arrived home just as two men were carting his TV out to their SUV. When Brown yelled at them, the two were so startled that they dropped the TV.
The falling TV knocked the rear license plate off the getaway vehicle.
Police traced the license plate to a nearby house and arrested two men, ages 27 and 29. The two men have been charged with burglary and also are under investigation in connection with other burglaries.
The number of burglaries from January through September has increased about 4.5 percent over the same period last year, according to preliminary statistics from the Omaha Police Department. During the nine months, there were 2,458 burglaries, compared with 2,351 last year.
Sgt. Pam Heidzig of the Police Department's north investigations unit said she expects the increased rate of burglaries to continue during the holiday season. Residents can help protect themselves, Heidzig said, by taking precautions at home, such as locking their doors, reporting suspicious strangers in the neighborhood and watching out for neighbors.
On Monday, a woman pushed a would-be burglar out of her southwest Omaha home after he entered through an unlocked front door. Another attempted burglary in the same neighborhood — near 189th and T Streets — also was thwarted by a homeowner, who heard the would-be thief trying to kick in a door.
Douglas County sheriff's officials think the man who tried to break into the homes about 1:30 p.m. Monday was accompanied by two other men who waited outside in a light-colored Hyundai SUV.
No one was hurt in either attempted break-in.
Brown, the homeowner who caught two men stealing his flat screen TV, said he wonders how much more he could be missing if he hadn't arrived home while the burglars were there.
The men had pried open his back door and were carrying his TV out the front door when he yelled at them.
“I couldn't believe it,” Brown said. “They took off like someone threw hot grits on them.”
Contact the writer:
444-1279, jason.kuiper@owh.com
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