Bethesda 2nd District Police Commander Capt. Dave Falcinelli says there have been 12 office burglaries in the downtown Bethesda and White Flint areas this year, mostly involving stolen laptops and cash.
Falcinelli wrote about the commercial burglary issue in a letter to local neighborhood associations earlier this week.
He said commercial burglaries/office thefts was the only major category in which crime was up compared to the first quarter of 2012:
The big issue facing us now is commercial burglaries/office thefts. Since the beginning of 2013, there have been twelve office burglaries in the downtown Bethesda area, as well as the areas in and around White Flint. The suspects are removing laptops and cash.
On February 1st, video surveillance captured a black male suspect exiting an elevator towards a suite and later returning to the elevator carrying a laptop bag.
On April 5th, a black male suspect gained entry to a suite in the 11100 block of Rockville Pike and was seen on the 3rd floor rummaging through a desk. A photo of the suspect in this event is attached. From the photo, this suspect has a beard and is wearing a baseball hat with a white logo on the front and a dark colored jacket. This suspect has been seen by staff, but they delayed calling the police hampering our efforts to make an arrest.
PLEASE DIAL 911 IMMEDIATELY IF A SUSPECT MATCHING THE DESCRIPTION ABOVE IS OBSERVED IN AN OFFICE BUILDING AND HE IS UNKNOWN TO YOUR STAFF.
Falcinelli also said 2nd District officers recently arrested a group of juveniles stealing and breaking into cars.
