Columbia

Commercial burglary

A week and a half after two employees at Zips Dry Cleaners on the 10700 block of Little Patuxent Parkway were tied up and robbed at gunpoint, the business was again targeted by criminals, according to police. On Nov. 20 at about 10:45 p.m., police responded to an alarm at the business. When they arrive, officers found the business secure. Video surveillance, however, showed two people trying to pry open a door to the business using a crowbar. The suspects left when they could not open the door.

Police say a man walked into Performance Bicycle on the 6400 block of Dobbin Road at about 11 a.m. on Nov. 21 and took a bicycle without paying for it. An employee followed the man and tried to take a picture of his license place when, according to police, the man grabbed the employee, slammed him to the ground and took the employee’s phone. The burglar took the phone, attached the bike to a bike rack on his car, and left.

The robber is described as male in his early-to-mid 40s, 6-foot, about 225 pounds. He was wearing a dark-colored windbreaker and dark pants. 

On Nov. 21 at about 8:30 p.m., a security guard at the Giant Food on the 7200 block of Cradlerock Way told police that he saw a man putting food inside of his jacket. The guard said he confronted the man, who displayed a kitchen knife. The guard told police that he followed the man as he left the store; police arrested him and recovered the food and knife.

The 49-year-old Columbia man faces first- and second-degree assault, theft, armed robbery and reckless endangerment charges. 

Sometime between the evenings of Nov. 21 and Nov. 22, someone tore the outside window screen off of an apartment complex on the 10300 block of Swift Stream Place and entered through an unlocked window, according to police. The burglar tried to take two televisions from the wall in the fitness center, but was unsuccessful, according to police. Then the burglar took a steel rod from a gate and smashed the glass door to the media center, and tried to take a television projector, according to police, but couldn’t get it. The burglar also pried open the kitchen, police said, but nothing was stolen. 

Street robbery 

According to police, three teenage males went to the 6500 block of Frietchie Row on Nov. 20 to meet an acquaintance at about 9:20 p.m. They saw the acquaintance briefly, then he left saying he’d be right back, according to police. He didn’t return. Instead, three young men approached, implied they had a weapon, and took the teenagers’ cash and cell phones, according to police.

The three robbers are described as males, about 19-years-old, wearing hooded sweatshirts, black masks and dark clothes. 

Residential burglary

Police on Nov. 21 were investigating a stolen vehicle when they found it parked in front of a home on the 11300 block of Ridermark Row at about 7:15 p.m. Officers saw a man in dark clothes, wearing a mask and gloves walking near a home on that block. According to police, when they approached him, the man ran to the vehicle and tried to drive away, but police were able to detain him. Further police investigation revealed a door to the home that the man was walking by had been smashed, but nothing was reported missing.

The man, a 43-year-old from Columbia, faces several burglary charges as well as malicious destruction of property, resisting arrest and a vehicle theft charge. 

On Nov. 21 at about 7:45 p.m., someone smashed a sliding glass door on the back of a home on the 6700 block of Quiet Hours, according to police. The burglar unlatched a security bar, according to police, and stole two televisions and a dog bowl.

A resident on the 6500 block of Quiet Hours noticed his Xbox and Philips receiver were missing. The victim told police that someone broke into his house sometime between Nov. 9 and Nov. 24. According to police, there were no signs of forced entry.

Sometime between Nov. 17 and Nov. 23, burglars broke into a home on the 6900 block of Catwing Court, according to police. The burglars pried open a kitchen window, police said, and stole two televisions.

A resident of the 5200 block of Cedar Lane found pry marks on his garage door, according to police, and said he thought someone had entered the garage within the past year. Missing is a bag of retaining clips for his bumper.

Ellicott City

Residential burglary

Police say someone broke into a vacant apartment on the 3100 block of Normandy Woods Drive sometime between Nov. 12 and Nov. 21. Nothing was taken, according to police, but someone wrote profanities on the walls.

Elkridge

Commercial burglary

The gate was cut in the back of Sanford Kramer, on the 8100 block of Lark Brown, according to police, allowing someone to enter the secured parking area between Nov. 16 and Nov. 19. Police say burglars broke windows on two work vans; nothing was reported stolen.

Construction site burglary

Police say a whirlpool tub was stolen sometime between the evenings of Nov. 16 and Nov. 17 from a house under construction on the 6100 block of South Meyer Drive.

Jessup 

Commercial burglary

Police say someone cut the lock to the rear gate at BWAE, on the 7100 block of Dorsey Run Road on Nov. 25 between 8:15 and 8:25 p.m. The burglar then entered one of the vehicles and drove it into a concrete barrier, according to police, moving it enough to steal the vehicle, driving it into the woods on Montevideo Road. 

County-wide vehicle thefts

People posing as respondents to Craigslist ads stole three motorcycles on Nov. 24, according to police. They took the motorcycles for tests drives and didn’t bring them back, police said. One juvenile was arrested and two of the three motorcycles was recovered. Still missing is a 2005 Suzuki 450.   

A 2002 Honda Accord with the license plate MD 6AGP32V was reported stolen from the Normandy Shopping Center in Ellicott City. 

A gold Mercedes was reported stolen from the Brokenland Park & Ride on Nov. 17 at about 5 p.m.

A silver Honda Civic with the license plate MD 7AN9145 was reported stolen from the 12200 block of Green Meadow Drive.