A TEENAGER at home alone in Mentone quickly rang his father, who had just left, when two intruders jumped a side fence and forced the house’s back door open, 2.15pm, Thursday 23 March.
The boy later told police a Caucasian man wearing a baseball cap backwards rang the doorbell of their Beach Rd home three times before he and an accomplice broke into a gymnasium at the back of the house, on the corner of Marina Rd. They cut through wire screen doors and unsnibbed sliding glass doors to enter the house before rummaging through two downstairs bedrooms and stealing hockey sticks and piggy banks.
The boy, who was not seen by the intruders, was in a third downstairs bedroom when his father returned. The garage door went up and the offenders ran out to a waiting stolen car and drove off. Soon after, police were called to Cremona St, Mentone, when the same offenders were seen rummaging through a parked car.
They smashed open two metal money boxes in the street before leaving them on the nature strip and driving off along Venice St. Police later pursued the car but broke off the chase.
Call Crime Stoppers 1800 333 000 with information.
First published in the Chelsea Mordialloc Mentone News – 29 March 2017