A man forces his way into an east Tulsa home and steals personal belongings while he is being recorded on surveillance cameras.
Charles Moore has a dual camera system set up at his home in eEast Tulsa near East 11th Street and Highway 44.
He set it up five years ago when he moved in because he had heard the neighborhood had break-ins before. Not too long after that he was broken into.
On Tuesday, September 18th it happened again and this time he was able to record everything the thief did. The first time it happened the criminals cut the camera wires. On Tuesday though, Moore had a full view of the man’s face.
“He used basically body force to keep banging it,” said Moore. “He hit it six, seven or eight times before he got it open.”
The man reportedly went to Moore’s neighbor’s house first and knocked on the door. The neighbor answered and the man asked for someone who the neighbor had never heard of so he left. Then Moore’s camera’s capture that same man (the neighbor later confirmed that was him) walking in Moore’s driveway and walking up to the door and walking behind the house.
Then you can see the man burglarize the home. He uses his body to force his way into the front door and steals a gun and a laptop.
Moore thinks he did not realize he was on camera until he grabbed the laptop because the laptop was sitting in front of the television screen where the surveillance videos were playing out.
“My laptop was sitting here, so if he bent down to pick it up and lifted up he had to have seen himself,” said Moore.
Moore was at work when this happened. His alarm company called him just after noon and said his front door had been entered.
“I called my neighbor and asked her to go over and check the door,” said Moore. “She said a man had come to her door just five minutes before I called. While I was on the phone with her, she was like ‘Oh my God, little Charles'- C3, (Moore’s son is nick named C3 for Charles the Third) his machine is on the front lawn.”
According to Moore, the thief grabbed the laptop and the cord was tangled in his son’s medical chord equipment. His son has Cornelia De Lang Syndrome and need a breathing machine to help him get rid of fluid that sits on his lungs.
“The way to get it out is he coughs it out or we have to suck it out through his nose, so the machine basically is life or death to a degree, said Moore.
The thief broke part of the expensive machine, but later Moore was able to fix it.
“I was upset, just ready to fight out the aggression-- like somebody was in my house!” said Moore.
Moore said the Tulsa police spent an hour going over the surveillance video and taking pictures. The thief also got away with Moore’s gun and some expensive, sentimental jewelry his father gave him.
“I had cameras, an alarm system, serial number to my gun, they were the happiest cops I have ever seen!” said Moore.
Moore’s camera system cost about $300 at Harbor Freight. He said other neighbors in his block also have surveillance videos. He hopes this man is caught again.
If you have any information that could help TPD catch this crook, call Crime Stoppers at 918-596-COPS.
