True Crime #13

The vehicle smelled of beer, and shattered glass was everywhere.

Anne Myint and her family rang in 2010 with a simple night at home — hanging out as a family and catching some television. It was a relaxing evening, but the first day of January would quickly make their home the scene of a senseless act of vandalism and theft.

“Happy New Year to me,” Myint says, trying to keep a jovial attitude about the crime. “My back window was smashed with a beer bottle. There was beer all in the back of the car.”

After smashing the rear window of her Chevy Suburban, the suspect removed her rear seats from the vehicle.

“Maybe we should have gone out, and this might not have happened,” Myint says. “The glass, that’s just vandalism. It’s not until I saw the seats were stolen that I really got mad. What is wrong with people? That was my private property.”

This was not the first case of holiday heists at the Myint home. Last year, all of her new Suburban’s rims and tires were stolen on Christmas Eve.

“It was only a month old,” she says of her car.

Dallas Police Lt. Barry Payne of the North Central Patrol Division says cases of vandalism were actually down this New Year’s Eve, but random acts of theft and vandalism can be a problem during the holidays.

“This does happen occasionally, but not this year,” he says of widespread New Year’s vandalism. “But occasionally we have incidences where teens will wreak havoc on neighborhoods by cutting tires and convertible tops, or breaking windows.”

Payne suggests parking in lighted areas and garages at night when at all possible.

“There is an aftermarket demand for these third-row seats, and they are a common item stolen,” he says.