That’s because when a criminal broke into Taub’s shed on a recent Sunday afternoon, it was his next-door neighbor that kept the thief from completely cleaning him out.

Taub came home after a visit with his sister and was planning on doing some yard work. He walked out to his front yard, where he encountered his neighbor.

“She came around the corner and said, ‘You’re being robbed,’” he says. “But by the time I got back there, the guy was gone.”

The neighbor, Jenny Butow, had been in her back yard gardening when she heard a truck pull up in the alley behind their houses. When she heard some loud noises, she got up to investigate. That’s when she saw a man loading lawn equipment from Taub’s shed into his truck.

“She asked him what he was doing, and he said he was a contractor working for me,” Taub says. “So she asked him what my name was and he said something to the effect of, ‘Come on, you know who your neighbor is.’”

When Butow tried to ask him some more questions, the thief drove off – but not without a haul of around $4,000 worth of Taub’s lawn equipment.

And this isn’t the first time Taub’s had trouble with burglars trying to get into this shed. Last December, someone attempted a break-in, but was scared off by something, he says.

Since then, he “beefed up” the locks, but his efforts still didn’t protect his yard equipment from a thief who he says must’ve used a bolt cutter and a crowbar.

“It makes you want to hire a lawn service,” Taub says.

Even though the bravery of Taub’s neighbor might have kept the thief from taking more of his belongings, Dallas Police Cpl. Terri Smith says it’s not such a good idea to face criminals on your own.

“Don’t confront them because you don’t know if they’re armed or not. If something is going on, call 911” she says. “If you see someone suspicious just hanging around the neighborhood, call it in as a suspicious person. If you see them putting merchandise in a truck or taking merchandise from the house, call it in as a burglary in progress.”

She says it’s also smart to take some extra measures to discourage criminals.

“If the sheds are in the back yard, keep some kind of sensor light back there so if someone walks through, the light will come on,” Smith says. “Alleys and back yards are typically dark, and that makes them an easy target.”