Do You Know This Man?
On July 4, 2009 our house was broken into through a window in the back. The thief was able to use a knife to bust through the window, climbed into the window by standing on our grill and then steal…a LOT of our stuff. He took everything from computers to electronics to our vacuum cleaner, tools, jewelry, and yes even the food in our refrigerator. My husband interrupted his thieving, although not knowing it at the time. The door in the back was wide open and one bag was left that the guy hadn’t been able to come back and get.
Immediately we started playing the suspect game. We had an inkling it was our neighbor because it looked like the person made multiple trips and walked/ran with our belongings. Also a few days later they put their vacuum cleaner on the street for the trash collection. Coincidence? I think not. We gave the lead to the detective and the police on the scene had multiple fingerprints and blood. There we also about five more break-ins in a two week period and someone in the neighborhood told a neighborhood source (just protecting identity) who it was, yep our neighbor. We pass this information along to the police as well.
Easy case, right? No. On either the 15th or the 16th of OCTOBER we finally get a call saying the blood work was back and a positive ID was made.
Guess who it was? Sure enough our neighbor CHARLES KIRKLAND.
Great news right? No really because about 3 weeks ago he skipped out. He was in our neighborhood for TWO months and did the police even knock on his door? (I don’t know the answer to that question, but I would like to know.)
We are grateful for the work the police have put into the case and grateful to have a confirmation of who broke into our house. Something needs to be done though when there are solid leads in a case. I know the department is completely understaffed and having to wait THREE months for fingerprints and blood is a bit, ridiculous. That is a crazy back log. Of course we also realize this is on the bottom of the priority list, as it should be. Maybe a guest from the department would be willing to respond with ways we can assist the department. I don’t know for sure, but I bet break-ins are up from 3-5 years ago.
There is a warrant out for this man’s arrest and we would greatly appreciate your help. We know our stuff is long gone, but we still would like justice. He isn’t safe in any neighborhood. If you see this man please call the Lakeland Police IMMEDIATELY.
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