Open Mike: Moving On After Thieves Move In

 

Burglars recently targeted the Wendlands’ motorhome, and Mike and Jennifer have some advice to share with other RVers.

 

By Mike Wendland, F426141
August 2015

 

Seven minutes is all it took for our RV to be burglarized, and for us to lose $12,000 worth of equipment — just about everything of value inside the motorhome except the dog.

 

Yes, just seven minutes.

 

That was enough time for the bad guys to come into our space and to take our stuff. We know it was only seven minutes, because our dash cam was recording most of it.

 

It happened in Collinsville, Illinois, just across the Mississippi River from St. Louis, Missouri. We stopped for dinner about 6:15 p.m. at a restaurant in a busy shopping mall off Interstate 55. It was a pretty upscale mall, with lots of well-known stores and restaurants and plenty of traffic.

 

While we were inside eating, at least two thieves somehow gained entry to our Roadtrek CS Adventurous XL, and in about seven minutes, they took more than $12,000 worth of electronic gear — including all of the video and still cameras and most of the mobile podcasting studio equipment I had brought along for the trip.

 

Police blamed gangs from nearby East St. Louis. A guy towing a U-Haul trailer who also had stopped for dinner and was parked a few spaces down from us was hit as well. They smashed a window to gain entry to his vehicle and also took a computer.

 

It turns out, though, that my dash cam may have captured an image of one of the thieves. A “person of interest” can be seen clearly on the dash cam video peering in the front of the motorhome, perhaps casing the RV. Under his left arm he is carrying what may be burglary tools. It looks like a hammer wrapped up in a towel and some sort of device.

 

Seconds before he walked out of sight, someone entered the motorhome from the side and was joined by an accomplice. I’ve given the evidence over to police. They are hoping to be able to identify and talk with the person seen on the dash cam video.

 

Alas, with the dash cam pointed outward, we did not capture an image of the thieves who were inside. However, the dash cam did record some of their audio. They can be heard talking nicely to our dog, Tai, who, knowing him, was probably delighted by the company at first.

 

The inside was totally ransacked. Every cupboard was opened and all the contents strewn about. You can hear the thieves delighting over the laptops. “What’s this?” one of them asked, followed by the sounds of things falling to the floor.

 

I can’t begin to describe how incredibly sad it is to hear these lowlifes talking so casually about the things they were finding and stealing. They laughed and sounded totally at ease. One thing they took was Jennifer’s tote bag. In it were some personal items, things of absolutely no value or meaning to the thieves, but things that were meaningful to her.

 

We lost both of our laptops, an iPad, chargers, my professional video camera, my high-end Canon 5D Mark III DSLR camera with a memory card full of Route 66 photos, my multichannel podcast mixing board, a Rand McNally GPS, a portable printer, all sorts of cables, and items such as a backpack and, as mentioned, Jennifer’s tote bag. They even took my shower soap, shampoo, and deodorant.

 

When we came out of the restaurant at about 7:03 p.m., the thieves were gone, and, back in the motorhome, Tai looked stressed. He knew stuff wasn’t supposed to be tossed all over the RV. Fortunately, the thieves did not hurt him. As I mentioned, they can be heard talking soothingly to him as they stole our stuff.

 

After police officers took our report, we went to a nearby Best Buy and bought a replacement computer. I stayed up all night, first configuring it and then, account by account, changing passwords on my email accounts and with my credit card companies, my bank, and other personally sensitive information. Then I did it all for Jennifer. We called our accountant and bank to alert them to look for suspicious activity.

 

Fortunately, all my computer info was encrypted and backed up with strong security measures in place. But it’s better to take no chances, hence an all-nighter. I am too old to pull an all-nighter.

 

I also am glad I have a Macintosh computer. I used Apple’s “Find My Mac” service to see whether I could locate the stolen laptop. It didn’t show, but I clicked the “notify me if found” box, which will send me a map of the computer’s location as soon as it goes online. I also sent an erase command, which will wipe the hard disk and lock the machine so it cannot be used. This is a great service and well worth the cost of buying an Apple product.

 

But since the theft, I have learned of and signed up for a new service called Orbicule Undercover (http://orbicule.com/undercover/mac/), which does the same thing Find My Mac does, and much more. It takes and sends a photograph of whoever is using the computer once you initiate a theft report. It also records every keystroke entered by the bad guy who tries to use your computer.

 

The big question we have is how the thieves gained access to our motorhome. There is some suspicion that thieves are using technology to transmit radio signals that mimic the unlock signals transmitted by key fobs. 

 

If so, that would explain why there was no sign of forced entry. Because as we left the vehicle, as usual, Jennifer asked whether I had locked it. I distinctly remember walking to the side passenger window, pushing the lock button on the key fob, and seeing and hearing the inside locks depress.

 

As I write this some three weeks later, police have made no arrests and have not uncovered any leads, other than my dash cam images. We have continued our trip. Most of the gear has been replaced. My homeowners insurance has covered much of the loss, and, though traumatic and not something we’d wish on anyone, the entire experience has taught us some very valuable lessons.

 

The first is, bad things do happen. Not always. Not even a lot. But sometimes. This was our sometime. And put in the perspective of the rest of the trip, and indeed all the other trips we’ve taken in our RV and the ones we will take in the future, this one bad experience in more than 100,000 miles of RV travel does not diminish the joy and adventure and good times we’ve had in our RV one bit.

 

Secondly, what we lost was just stuff. Stuff can be replaced. 

 

Then there are the practical lessons, such as the following:

 

 

Finally, realize that when bad things happen, it’s how you deal with them that determines how bad they really were. We determined right away not to let this make us fearful, angry, or resentful or to wallow in self-pity.

 

There’s too much out there to go see and do, and one lousy little seven-minute experience isn’t about to deter us from moving on.