Roswell thieves break in, clean out newly built homes

February 23, 2011

Roswell police are looking for suspects that caused tens of thousands of dollars worth of damage to two brand new homes in Roswell. The home's developer, Tim Parker, says the thieves were looking for copper. When they didn't find any, they stole what they could and destroyed the rest. Sometime last week, Parker believes the suspects busted in the back doors at two of his homes. He didn't realize the homes had been damaged until Sunday during an open house. "This house will be set back a solid four months. Three to four months by the time we demo the inside, dry it out and reconstruct it," he explained. "It's looking like they were after copper, but there's no copper in these homes." Instead, thieves ripped the bathroom sinks right out of the walls, causing water to flood one of the homes. They also stole entire sets of cabinets and shower fixtures. The homes received as much as $50,000 in damage. "[The Roswell Police Department] really responded well, but I believe this is their largest vandalism case in the past six months," said Parker. According to crime statistics, property crimes like burglaries and vandalism were actually down about 16 percent last year compared to 2009. Neighborhood officials say despite the downward trend, people still need to be on the look out for crime. "By the dollar amount, this is a big crime," said Richard Lucero of Roswell Neighborhood Watch. "Somebody knows what happened, somebody knows who did this and we want that somebody to call the Chaves County Crime stoppers." So far, no arrests have been made. Anyone with information about the case is urged to call Crime stoppers at 1-888-594-TIPS.