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More Than 2 Dozen Vehicles Broken Into, 1 Stolen In Mt. Lebanon

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MT. LEBANON (KDKA) - More than two dozen cars in Mt. Lebanon have been broken into recently and one was stolen.

Police say car owners are making the thieves work easier.

Mt. Lebanon police are warning its residents to lock their car doors unless they want to wake up and find their belongings inside gone, or find their car isn't there at all.

Tamara Grant says she feels safe on the street where she's lived for 17 years.

"Something like this happens and it's just a good reminder that we do have to be safe," she said.

The rash of recent car break-ins is making her rethink old habits, like not locking car doors.

"I do find it surprising that people don't lock their doors, but we're guilty of it, though, ourselves. I know sometimes we just forget. You know, we're in a hurry to and from with the kids," Grant said.

Some of Grant's neighbors had their cars rummaged through.

On the next street over, Tiia Lager's neighbor went to take the kids to school and couldn't. They sent Lager a text message.

"Saying our car was broken into and stolen, and so I went to go talk with them and we're talking to police and police talked to me and I went to go to work and I said wait a minute, I'm terrible at locking my car," she said.

Sure enough, Lager's husband's Jeep was locked but hers wasn't. Thieves went through the glove compartment and center console.

Not much was taken fortunately.

"About $4 worth of parking change, that's it," Lager said.

Mt. Lebanon police said of the 22 cars broken into recently, hundreds of dollars were taken, GPS units and other small electronics.

The Ford pickup that was stolen was found abandoned in the Homestead area and returned to Mt. Lebanon on Saturday. Not only wasn't it locked, but the keys were left inside. Finding the truck will help investigators, who will process it for fingerprints and send them to the state police and FBI crime labs.

Anyone with camera with surveillance of the outside of their homes are asked to notify Mt. Lebanon police.

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