We’ve Been Robbed…

According to the Associated Press style guide, the proper term is “burgled”. The according to Hoyle difference is as follows:

Robbery is the taking or attempting to take something of value from another person by use of force, threats or intimidation. And Burglary is the unlawful entry of a ‘structure’ to commit a felony or a theft. Burglary is commonly known as a "break in," or, "breaking and entering." A ‘structure’ is usually in reference to physical buildings but not cars. Car break-ins or thefts are considered larcenies.

So, by definition, we were burgled.

Last Monday afternoon, a sneak-thief – or more likely thieves – broke into our house and stripped it of nearly everything electronic. Most definitely every piece of valuable electronica.

To add insult to injury, they thrashed the house, emptying every drawer, disturbing every piece of furniture in their larcenous lust for loot.

I was finishing up a five-day business trip to Oregon when PPie called me frantically, crying that we had been robbed, everything taken.

I grabbed my bags and headed for the airport, in hopes of catching an early flight home. Instead, I got to sit in the terminal an extra four hours. Yea.

In my absence, the cops came, took photos, asked questions, and before leaving, said the CSI would be by to take prints. PPie went to stay at her sister’s house with the kids and to wait for me.

My flight arrived at nearly midnight and I headed to our violated home, in hopes of making some sense of it, or at least putting out of my mind the idea that it was just some terrible dream or a horrible joke.

The house looked like a tornado had hit it. Rather than answering any questions, it simply opened up a whole new crop of them – why make a jelly sandwich, only to smear it on the carpet in the bedroom? Why take video games and not the DVDs? Why steal $100 in Jorja's birthday/Xmas money piggy bank, but not the $75 in silver change on my dresser? Why drink two beers, but leave two others?

Why, why, why????

I am not the type of person to say, “Well, I hope they can make use of it.” Or, “If they’d just asked, I would have helped them out.” Colorado has a “Make My Day” law; had I caught them in the act, I would have exercised that right.

As it stands, this is probably one of those crimes where the criminals are not caught, at least not for this crime. But, if there is one iota of justice they will go to jail for a crime they did not commit.

Finally, here is the partial list of missing items wrap up, SportsCenter-style:

Our 46” HiDef, flat panel TV? Gone

My XBOX360 and 20+ games? No longer in the house.

The Wii? Departed along with a half-a-dozen games.

Not one or two laptops, but all THREE laptops are history.

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. I don’t doubt that three months from now I’m going to look for a specific doohickey and realize that I haven’t seen it since the EVENT.

For now, we have cleaned up and are back in the house, sans-electronica. We’ve made a claim to our homeowner’s insurance and I’m sure that is going to be another battle.