Dragnet – Big Pair. ep67, 500921

Burglary detail. Homes are being broken into, and stripped of their furnishings.

Joe and Ben discuss a wedding gift for a co-worker, when they get the first report of a house being cleaned out. Little Ruth Ann lives with her grandparents, and when grandma died, she was taken back to Indiana for burial, they came home to the devastation. Who may have known they were going away? Has any neighbors noticed any unusual activity?

More burglaries go down. Families gone for extended periods come home to find themselves cleaned out. Patterns lead to clues, and how robbers might know of an empty house, when neighbors were unaware of an absence. Joe Friday passes on good security practices to be aware of, even for modern times.

Thieves need to get rid of stolen goods, and soon Joe Friday has located merchandise at resale shops. More clues and witness statements give the cops enough to go on to set up a trap. A stake out at a decoy house soon lures in the robbers, and they fall easy prey to the cops.