They sTole and sTarT ed charging immediaT ely.

Linda Mann had a meeting that morning. She rushed out to drop the kids off at school, and then headed back to her Sherwood Estates home to change clothes. She parked the car on the street in front of her home and ran inside to quickly change clothes and head to her meeting.

Mann says she was not inside more than 30 minutes. It was just enough time for someone to break into her car and steal the black bag and wallet she had accidentally left inside.

The credit card charges began almost immediately.

“The first charge on my credit card was

The Victim: Linda Mann

The Crime: Burglary of a motor vehicle

Date: Thursday, April 12

Time: Between 8:15 a.m. and 8:30 a.m.

Location: 5800 block of Gramercy at 8:53,” Mann says. “Within 30 minutes they were already charging.”

By the time she returned home around 11:30 a.m., all her credit card companies had left messages about curious charges on her accounts. At Lowes, $900 had been charged, $300 at Albertson’s and another charge at Walgreens. Police told Mann that criminals often pass credit card numbers to friends to use the card numbers at stores very quickly or to someone they know who might work at certain stores.

Mann appreciates her credit card companies contacting her so quickly and taking care of the illegal charges. She says police arrested someone with merchandise in the area soon after the crime, and she is hoping he is the suspect in the theft.

Dallas Police Lt. Richard Dwyer of the North Central Patrol Division says those who experience this type of crime should do just as Mann did — immediately contact banks and cancel credit cards.

“Unfortunately in this day and age, people must remember to lock their cars — even if it is parked in front of their house during the daytime,” he says.

“In addition, try not to leave things of value laying in plain view. Often times nowadays, when someone’s credit card is stolen, it is used immediately at a major chain store to buy gift cards. These cards are used at another store or sold to someone else.”

ADVOCATE PUBLISHING does not pre-screen, recommend or investigate the advertisements and/ or Advertisers published in our magazines. As a result, Advocate Publishing is not responsible for your dealings with any Advertiser. Please ask each Advertiser that you contact to show you the necessary licenses and/or permits required to perform the work you are requesting. Advocate Publishing takes comments and/or complaints about Advertisers seriously, and we do not publish advertisements that we know are inaccurate, misleading and/or do not live up to the standards set by our publications. If you have a legitimate complaint or positive comment about an Advertiser, please contact us at 214-560-4203. Advocate Publishing recommends that you ask for and check references from each Advertiser that you contact, and we recommend that you obtain a written statement of work to be completed, and the price to be charged, prior to approving any work or providing an Advertiser with any deposit for work to be completed.

Around the time on Mother’s Day that a driveby shooting occurred near Bachman Lake in the 3200 block of Northwest Highway, wounding two women ages 19 and 20 and killing 18-year-old Alexander Hock of Kansas

Number of victims robbed at gunpoint along the Katy Trail late at night May 13 and in the early morning hours of May 14

Source: Dallas Police Department

Estimated value of the jewelry stolen from a home in the 7800 block of Mason Dells on May 4 while the alarm was not set