Crime & Safety

Woman Wakes to Man in Bedroom: Crime Roundup

This information is supplied by the Howard County Police Department.

Ellicott City

Howard County Police say a gas station employee was robbed at gunpoint on Friday night. Read more on Ellicott City Patch.

Residential burglary

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Police responded to the 3600 block of Valley Road on Dec. 9 at about 3:11 a.m. for a burglary in progress. The resident said he woke up when his dogs started barking and heard the front door closing. He told police he went to investigate and found the motion-detecting exterior light at the front door was on. The resident said he had left the front door unlocked. The passenger side door and glove box to his vehicle, parked in the driveway, were open, police said.

Columbia 

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Robbery

A group of seven males on bikes confronted a man in the Oakland Mills Village Center on Dec. 7 at about 9:45 p.m. according to police. Two of them grabbed the man’s jacket and told him to go with them, according to police. The man said he tried to walk away from the group, but they followed him.

One of the members of the group hit the man with his bicycle as he told him to hand over his money according to police, then he pulled the man’s jacket off of him, reached into the man’s pants pocket and took his wallet. 

The suspects are described as a group of seven black males between the ages of 17 and 20. Four of them were slim and three were muscular. One was wearing a black ski mask and all seven were wearing dark clothes.

Commercial burglary 

Someone tried to pry open the back door at the Olive Garden on the 8300 block of Benson Avenue on Dec. 8 just after 4 a.m. according to police, but were unsuccessful. Police say the restaurant had no electrical power, although the surrounding businesses did. 

Police say they do not know how much money was in a safe stolen from Rudy’s Mediterranean Grill, on the 7100 block of Columbia Gateway Drive. Someone pried open the back door on Dec. 8, according to police, at about 2 a.m.

Residential burglary

Someone pried open a basement-level window at a home on the 9400 block of Greco Garth on Dec. 7, sometime between 9:15 a.m. and 6 p.m., according to police. Jewelry and two laptops were reported stolen.

A passer-by noticed a back sliding glass door open on a house on the 9400 block of Brett Lane, according to police. The person who notified police said he knew the home was vacant and the door was not in that position earlier in the week of Dec. 5.

A neighbor told police he saw two men tampering with a door across the hall from him on the 10200 block of Hickory Ridge Road on Dec. 7 at about 2 p.m. The neighbor said he did not see the two men go in the apartment. Police on the scene saw the ground-level apartment window had been shattered. A flat screen television and two laptops were reported stolen.

Police don’t know how a burglar got into a home on the 10300 block of Hickory Ridge Road on Dec. 8, sometime between 4 and 11 p.m. A laptop, money, two video games, six boxes of syringes and a jewelry box with jewelry and money was reported stolen.

Someone entered a home through an unlocked garage door on the 6600 block of June Apple Court on Dec. 9 between 1 and 8:15 a.m., according to police. The burglar took a purse and a bottle of beer, according to police, then left them on the garage floor. Nothing was reported stolen from the purse. 

A resident at a home on the 9500 block of Glen Oaks Lane woke up on Dec. 10 at 4:35 a.m. to a man wearing a mask next to her in her bedroom, according to police. The woman screamed and the man left, taking a jewelry box that had large amounts of jewelry, according to police. The man also took a purse from the first floor, then left through the front door. Police say he got into the passenger side of a vehicle that had been waiting, and then drove off toward Oakland Mills Road. The woman said she might have left a basement door open.

The suspect is described as a black man with a medium complexion. He was short and wearing a mask and a red and black jacket.

Vehicle theft 

A 2005 Chrysler with the license plate PA JCN707 was stolen on Dec. 8 at about 8:30 a.m. from the 7600 block of Woodpark Lane.

Elkridge

Commercial burglary

Someone used a rock to smash the front door of Sports Clips on the 7200 block of Montgomery Road on Dec. 8 at about 6:13 a.m., according to police. The cash register was open and a small amount of money was reported missing.

The front door of Bonaire Nails Spa on the 6200 block of Washington Boulevard was smashed on Dec. 8 at about 7:40 a.m., according to police. Nothing was reported stolen.

Someone threw a rock through the window of the choir room of Trinity Episcopal Church on the 7400 block of Washington Boulevard between 6 p.m. Dec. 6 and 9:50 a.m. the next day, according to police. Three offices were ransacked, but nothing was reported missing. Police say the same person or people broke into a separate building on the property that is used for a thrift store. A small window was broken, but nothing was reported stolen.

Someone entered a building on the 9500 block of Lynn Buff Court between 8 p.m. on Dec. 6 and 9 a.m. the next day through an unlocked front garage door, according to police. Tools were reported stolen from the garage. 

Laurel

Vehicle theft attempt

Someone tried to steal a 1998 Honda Accord from the 8300 block of Ice Crystal on Dec. 7 at about 3:38 p.m.

For questions about this police blotter, contact brandie@patch.com

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