AMAZING attempt at crime.....Trinitaria, STI ........also a "small commentary"...

dms3611

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Jan 14, 2002
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AMAZING attempt at crime.....Trinitaria, STI ........also a "small commentary"...

........on why you "owe yourself" to learn some Spanish if you decide to live or spend time in the Dominican Republic.......

After hearing 2 separate stories this past week about thefts happening in "broad daylight" at the same time families were actually "right on premises" in really nice parts of Santiago (do you think the increase in thefts have anything to do with the "practically total collapse" of the free zone textile industry.....), I thought I would share this story since it just happened here in our "Torre" in the Trinitaria.

Believe it or not, a thief climbed up the outside of the building...on the "backside" of the building... IN BROAD DAYLIGHT... to get into an apartment where he found the keys of the owners jeep and decided to steal the jeep. Now, the 1st amazing part of the story is not that he climbed up to break into the apartment....but that he climbed 8 STORIES up to the PENTHOUSE hanging solely onto a 3" water pipe (pipe being only 3-4 " from the wall all the way up) to do it! Now, after he gets up and finds these keys, he walks out the front door of the penthouse and takes the elevator down to find the car. A woman that lives in the building sees this guy hitting the "open door" button on the key control till he finds the right jeep. She does not recognize him so she immed. calls the police and the building supervisor (I guess there is no "security" personnel from 9 a.m - 5 p.m ...just work employees etc.) Now the guy is driving around in the enclosed parking garage trying to open the auto gates...but to his surprise, the gates won't open because the owner has not programmed the "genie" controller to get out. Sitting at the gate, he honks the horn and asks the employees (who are now waiting at the gate for the police) to let him out because " his controller is not working". They won't open the door for him...so all looks like its going to be a happy ending since the police are "on the way".

But then "fate" moves in (2nd amazing part of the story). The "owner" of the penthouse (a "gringo" that apparently does not speak much Spanish) shows up from town having been shopping /errands etc. IN HIS 2nd IDENTICAL JEEP!!!! The employees are yelling to him to stop and get out of his jeep because a thief is in his other jeep. The guy does not understand what they are saying and so he HITS HIS GATE CONTROLLER to let himself in and watches as the thief and HIS OTHER JEEP goes rolling out the door to apparent freedom....hahahahaha. Only because the police were called so soon were they able to actually catch this guy about 1/2 mile away (3rd amazing part....(but actually is probably the most amzing part ...hahahaha).

"Entonces" this tale ends up (finally) on a "positive" note for the owner ( I also hear he just enrolled in Spanish classes) ...the police "get their man" (also finally) .... and now the "building association" is beginning new additional security steps.......
 

Hillbilly

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Jan 1, 2002
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DO YOU THINK????

You hit it on the head!!!

After hearing 2 separate stories this past week about thefts happening in "broad daylight" at the same time families were actually "right on premises" in really nice parts of Santiago (do you think the increase in thefts have anything to do with the "practically total collapse" of the free zone textile industry.....), I thought I would share this story since it just happened here in our "Torre" in the Trinitaria.


Absolutely..

HB
 

BushBaby

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Jan 1, 2002
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......... And how VERY true!!

I have been saved from several 'awkward' moments by having a smattering of the local language - Contacts & friends advising what should & should NOT be done!! Immerse, Integrate & totally involve yourself with your Dominican neighbourghs (keeping yourself aware to possible scams at the same time of course) & you will receive back as much as you put in - sometimes more!! ~ Grahame.
 

cobraboy

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Jul 24, 2004
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Cripes!!! Climbed 8 stories???? Unbelievable...

He MUST have known the owner wasn't going to be there.
 

Mirador

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Apr 15, 2004
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You guys must have forgotten about the late burglar known as "El Hombre Ara?a" (Spiderman), who a few years back climbed an external wall of Edificio Diandy, all five stories, and entered the apartment of Leonel Fernandez while he was asleep in bed.
 

El_Uruguayo

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Dec 7, 2006
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That's funny, goes to show the imprtance of language. There was also a "spiderman" in montevideo, I'm sure there are a few other's out there.
 

Mirador

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Apr 15, 2004
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Whats 5 stories compared to 8? What did the guy steal in Leonels apt.?

For your first question, the anwer is 3 stories, and climbing 5 stories implies that the burglar has already climbed 3, which makes climbing another 3 not an implausible proposition. Capisci? The Spiderman stole Leonel's laptop. However, comments made to police upon his arrest probably signed his death sentence, comments which would be most inappropriate to mention in this public forum, considering that Leonel Fern?ndez is the President of the Dominican Republic and commands at least a modicum of respect...
 
May 12, 2005
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Wow, that was an amazing story. I take 2 lessons from this. The most important being that if you live there, learn the language! At least enough to communicate and understand at a very basic level. Second, as I have stated in some of my previous posts, crime is on the rise due to the lack of jobs. Freezone jobs might have been the best or highest paying, but they were jobs none the less that put pesos in people's pockets.
 

johne

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Jun 28, 2003
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a more amazing ending would have been..

the police arrive and arrest the real owner (sitting in an identical Jeepeta) and the crook drives away.

I would have bet the ranch that this is the way the story was going to end.
john
 

Spicedwine

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Apr 25, 2006
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And what's even MORE amazing...

is that the owner is sitting there in JEEP 1, obviously sees a guy waiting to exit, sitting in identical JEEP 2 - so that means there are THREE IDENTICAL JEEPS in the the same parking garage that day ?????? What would the odds on that be ?

This story is so hysterical it must be true !!
 
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suarezn

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Feb 3, 2002
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Climbing that seems impossible is more common than you think by these thieves. I remember in Cotui they caught a guy trying to steal the lights from a baseball field from one of those very, very long round aluminum posts that don't have any "steps" to hold on. If you saw the post I'm talking about you wouldn't believe it.
 

Rocky

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Apr 4, 2002
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An superb story, told in artistic style, yet concise.
Books could be written about stories like this, maybe even made it into a movie.
The lesson learned, of course, is as the OP points out.
Learn the lingo or suffer the consequences!
Let's face it, an expat might get awyay with minimal language skills in a tourist town, but if you're living in the interior, you had better become fluent, really quickly.
Thanks for the great story and the entertaining way you told it.
Regards.
 

Conchman

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Jul 3, 2002
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How do people know that he climbed up the side of the building? Did someone see him? If yes, why didnt they call police right away. If not, then are they taking his word for it? Maybe he got a key from someone and is 'covering' his inside contact.....
 

dms3611

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Jan 14, 2002
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The answer is....

....they have (and you could see) footprints/tracks/scuff marks going up the side of the building right up to the spot where he goes over the top of the "penthouse" position. Then they have evidence where he gets into the penthouse. Then they have his confession.

Now, I am not going to get into my theory how the whole thing "goes down" ...however, I do know that there is an equation/axiom in the the world (and certainly holds true in the DR) that goes something like
this........Lots of parties + Lots of invites for lots of strangers (including "friends of friends") + Not in your "place" all the time = a great chance for you house to be "scoped out" and robbed.

Conchman, I will have to show you sometime when you are in Santiago.

P.S. The "security guys" do not have access to the private elevator system in the building for each resident...nor do they have codes or keys to access the several interior locking systems that exist to get into the building or the residences. HOWEVER....once you are "inside" you do not need codes to ride DOWN the elevators although you need to have a "gate controller" to get out of the parking area (or someone to let you our since thats where things tend to be watched the most).