The fear of the coronavirus did not prevent them from burglary in series at least 34 Ehpad of Bouches-du-Rhône for a temporary loot of 100,000 euros of jewelry, 20,000 euros of cash and massive withdrawals on stolen bank cards that remain to be estimated…
These three young people from Marseille aged 22 to 24, two brothers and a friend, could have continued these targeted burglaries at a rate of two or three per week if they had not been arrested at their respective homes on April 14 at morning after a long departmental safety investigation. Already condemned several times for burglary, they were imprisoned at the end of their police custody.
An identical procedure
These repeated burglaries in Ehpad, without violence and without weapons, had started last October and had continued, and even accelerated, during confinement with the same operating mode: burglars, sedentary Travelers, entered at night in the establishment, sometimes open or with the help of a simple crowbar, and went to the director's office where they unsealed the chest that they were going to disembowel in nature. Inside, the jewelry and cash deposited by the residents, but also the bank cards each with their code.
If they were surprised, they fled, even if it meant returning to the same Ehpad a few weeks later. The cash, plus withdrawals up to the card ceiling, was then shared among the three burglars while the gold was immediately melted down for resale. Scratch stones and chemical fluids to test the quality of the precious metal were also seized during the searches.
It was the Marseille police investigation aid office that raised the alarm in February, intrigued by the upsurge in complaints. A dozen police officers were then mobilized in an investigation that quickly became a priority with the arrival of containment, especially since the burglars had also started to take over masks and hydroalcoholic gels.
"Distrustful thugs who changed homes very often"
"We used all the possibilities of investigation, analysis of the images of the cameras, record of traces by the scientific police, but also of the 24 hour surveillance made very complicated during this period of confinement", relates the divisional commissioner David Brugère, head of departmental security. "They are suspicious thugs who changed their homes very often, who moved a lot to buy narcotics. They had been identified quickly, but arresting them in the act could have been dangerous. And then we managed to accommodate each in an apartment, which made it possible to recover part of the proceeds from thefts.
The burglars, who admitted the majority of the facts, explained that they had chosen the Ehpad as easy targets where they were sure to find money and jewelry. Their victims number in the hundreds and the police are working to list them.
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One of the three thieves who showed signs of coronavirus contamination in police custody tested negative. "This case shows that we will have to help these Ehpad to improve their security", concludes Commissioner Brugère. “If we hadn't stopped this team, they would have continued without remorse. "
