Daylight burglaries hit Rotterdam homes

Rotterdam Police are investigating a rash of daytime burglaries across town over the past three weeks.

Lt. Michael Brown said at least 13 residential burglaries have been reported since late June and all appear to be related. In each case, the burglars gained entrance while the residents were not home.

The thieves appear to be taking jewelry, laptop computers, small electronics and cash, among other things.

“Each one is the same,” he said Tuesday, just hours after another burglary was reported on Norfolk Avenue. “And they’re doing the same thing when they get inside.”

Brown said some of the homes were unlocked, but the majority were accessed through forced entry. In one case, he said the thieves gained entry by using a rock to smash through a sliding glass door.

Initially, the robbers appeared to be targeting homes in the rural western part of the town. However, Brown said the most recent one occurred not far from Altamont Avenue near the commercial center of Rotterdam.

“It’s kind of all over,” he said.

Police are asking residents to keep their homes locked and to report any activity they might consider suspicious.

For instance, Brown said the thieves may try knocking on a door or ringing a doorbell to see if anyone is home before trying to break in. Investigators with the state police are looking into two similar burglaries in Princetown.

The recent burglaries appear to be the opposite of a series in Rotterdam during the spring. Then there were break-ins that occurred at night in occupied homes. Investigators eventually arrested 19-year-old Elijah Torres in May, after he was linked to an attempted burglary by a fingerprint on a window.

Torres was later accused of leading a Rotterdam detective on a chase into Schenectady’s Central Park in April. He was later charged with crimes including seven counts of second-degree burglary.