Chatham Burglaries Leave Residents Worried

CHATHAM, N.J. (CBSNewYork) -- Some homeowners in Chatham, New Jersey, are feeling unnerved and on edge after a series of burglaries.

As CBS 2's John Slattery reported, at least two of the break-ins happened while residents were home asleep.

"It scares me," said Brigitte Koller, a burglary victim who lives on Center Avenue. "It scares the hell out of me."

Koller's home was buglarized Friday night or early Saturday morning.

"We don't know it it happened during the time we were out for dinner or later when we were actually home," she said.

Four of Koller's purses were stolen from her bedroom. They were found the next morning in the bushes outside.

She, however, lost nothing.

"I have only one pursue which contains my wallet and everything, and that was somewhere else," she said.

The same night, an intruder entered a house on Washington Avenue through an open window. A screen was cut, and purses and jewelry were stolen, police said.

"Entered through what was an open window and gone through the house and taken some belongings while the occupants were home asleep," Chatham police Chief Philip Crosson said.

Someone also entered a home on Weston Avenue through an unlocked rear door while the resident was upstairs.

"She had heard what she believed to be someone downstairs in the kitchen," Crosson said.

A neighbor told one victim she saw three teenagers dressed in black acting suspiciously near one of the targeted homes. But police do have any surveillance video.

Authorities are not sure if the burglaries were all committed by the same person or people, but they say it's possible.

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