Thieves use garage door opener in unlocked van to burglarize garage

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    VANCOUVER, WA (KPTV) — A Vancouver family’s home was burglarized while they slept, and it was all caught on camera.

Judson McCauley and his family live in the Father Blanchet Park neighborhood.

The holidays were a busy and stressful time, so McCauley let a small thing slip: he left his garage door opener in his van just for a night.

“It’s just one of those circumstances where normally I don’t do any of those things, but Christmas – everybody’s tired, everybody’s running around, and so I left it unlocked. So my mistake,” said McCauley.

Just one night was all it took.

The night after Christmas, home surveillance cameras catch the thieves pulling up to the McCauley’s home. The thieves then go inside the van and find the garage opener.

“And I’m a little bit chagrined that I made the mistake to leave my van open, and made the mistake to leave the remote in there,” McCauley said. “I actually don’t usually have the garage door opener in there, but I – it was Christmas, I had loaded some things in and it was easier to use the remote so I grabbed it and I put it in there.”

The thieves went inside the garage and took what they could.

“Some tools and a small safe that normally isn’t in there, just happened to be in there just for a short period of time while I’m doing the closet organizer, so it was out of my way so I could put it back in. Short period of time,” said McCauley. “I mean, frankly, that’s just the bottom line, it’s my stuff.”

Inside the safe were important things like vehicle titles and passports.

Anyone with information about the burglary should reach out to Vancouver police.

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