tv Caught on Camera MSNBC June 9, 2013 11:00pm-12:01am PDT
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i'm seeing him walking around my house. you install security cameras but nothing keeps them away. >> then there was a barrage of gunfire. >> bam, bam, bam. >> they creep into your personal space. >> i was freaking out. crying and screaming. >> they leave with your hard-earned possessions. >> took my jewelry, money, safe, my computers, and they walked away from the front door. >> in this hour, over-the-top neighbors. naked intruders. >> went inside and took his clothes off and trashed the place. >> bumbling burglars. >> we got really nice face shots that we could freeze frame.
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>> even dangerous animals. >> he looked at me and gave me the look like what are you doing here? >> what are they doing here? and will they ever leave? >> are you seriously doing this? >> do you see me? >> leaving the jail. >> like an ambush. it's crazy. "caution on camera:invasion." hello, i'm contessa brewer. welcome to "caught on camera." there is no place like home. the video you are about to see, gunman try to invade a home, but what they don't know is this homeowner has firepower of his own. four robbery suspects run for cover in a rail-life wild west shootout that takes place in
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broad daylight. it's the afternoon of february 5th, 2009, in tucson, arizona. a home surveillance camera captures a chrysler 300 driving leisurely along this quiet street, but the occupants of the vehicle are not out for a casual drive. they're out for something more sinister. detective e.j. gueron. >> you can see the suspect's car drive by the house, by the resident. >> instead of proceeding down the block, the car stops abruptly. >> you see it stop as if it's casing the place. the garage is open. it appears the suspect sees this and sees it as an opportunity to commit the crime. >> within an instant, the car screeches around the corner and pulls into the driveway. four men jump out and guns draw. >> the homeowner's standing
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inside the garage and senses trouble, but instead of giving in, he decides to take matters into his own hands. >> he gets inside the house. he's able to keep them out. he does see the gun, gets in and gets access to a firearm and fire back. the suspects take off, some on foot, leaving the car. >> the homeowner refuses to back down. he fires off round after round. one of the bullets hits the windshield of the car. this woman covers crime for kvoa, an nbc affiliate station located in tucson. she vividly remembers seeing the video and being shocked by the brazenness of the crime. >> you had a car pulling into the driveway, you had four men leaving the car. they were wearing hooded
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sweatshirts. and then there was like this barrage of gunfire, and you could hear, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam. it was unbelievable that this would happen in broad daylight. >> the gunshots pierce the quiet serenity of the neighborhood and residents are concerned but feel that the homeowner did the right thing by shooting back. >> i'm very watchful where we live, and think everybody has a right to defend their property. >> the police release the surveillance video to the media. it results in a flood of anonymous tips that eventually results in arrests of two of the four suspects. >> we have a warrant outstanding for your a third suspect, and the fourth suspect, we're still trying to identify. >> a bullet through the windshield of the car injuries the driver of the vehicle during the gunfight. >> he was not mortally injured. we do have a warrant for him. he was identified. at this point we're still looking for him.
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>> the number of home invasions in the tucson area appear to be rising according to the woman. she's covered crimes in these parts for 31 years and her reports of invasions are more frequent. >> as far as a home invasion in that area, no, it's not surprising because i know that within seven months in that one particular area, there had been over 20 home invasions. just that one area. >> police say the area's rise in home invasions is in part due to its proximity to the mexican border and the tightening of drug enforcement there. those involved with the mexican drug trade are finding it harder to get their drugs and they're getting more and more desperate. >> it tells us, i think, that the border enforcement stuff is having an impact. at times the dealers are coming up short and they're looking for alternate ways. >> there's no evidence linking this house with the drug trade but it's still an ongoing investigation. >> somebody goes to a stash
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house because they know it's a stash house. at other times there are people who are completely innocent, they don't know what's going on. people are home invading them just to get property, get money, get items. >> the area's frequent home invasions have some homeowners living in fear. >> neighbors are terrified. they don't want to walk the streets at night. they're very concerned. and rightfully so. unfortunately there are some home invasions that are random that people who live in these homes have nothing do at all with the drug trade and they're collateral damage, so to speak. very, very scary. >> although this home invasion was particularly violent, she says it's good it was captured by surveillance cameras because it's rare that this type of crime is seen. >> it gives peel an idea how ruthless these people can be, that they go out in broad daylight, guns ablazing, and at the same time it helped identify
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the suspects. >> with the increased attention, the police focus on two suspects still on the loose. they're confident they'll continue the investigation with the surveillance video. it's just a matter o time before the police catch them and bring them to justice. >> it helps with our investigation in looking for suspects and being able to apprehend people. coming up -- brazen thieves go barking up the wrong montreal. >> they were trying to get the dogs. the dogs were running all over the place. two men take more than just money. grandmother, grandfather, my mother, my father. everything's gone. plus, what was it that causes a woman to do this to her poor neighbor? >> fight for your property. bing, bing, bing, bing. when "caught on camera:invasion" continues. [ male announcer ] with free package pickup
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late one evening in los angeles a bizarre invasion, the likes of which law enforcement has rarely seen. it starts innocently enough with two men who come to this house looking to purchase puppies. >> we had a korean family that were in the business of selling very expensive dogs. i think yorkshire terriers. they cost about $2,500 to $3,000 a pop. >> the suspects tell the family they like the cuddly yorkies and will be back with the money to purchase them. they come back, all right. not with cash, but with guns. >> and as you can see on video, they're trying to get the dogs, and the dogs were running all over the place. they did manage to get, i believe, three or four dogs. >> the victims are forced at gunpoint to lie down on the floor while the suspects scramble around the room, picking up each puppy one by one.
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>> they took the dogs, and fortunately for the victims and for us, this was captured on surveillance video, which was shown all over the nation. >> the dog nappers steal four purebred yorkshire terriers. police release the video to the media, and it gets a tremendous response from people all over the world. >> we've never seen this before in 26 years, where people were calling all the way from england, inquiring about the dogs. not about the people that were on the floor. about the dogs. >> with all the publicity surrounding the video and the crime, the suspects with the precious pups come clean. >> the pressure was on the suspects. eventually both of them turned themselves in and were booked for the crime of robbery. >> the surveillance system in the home seems elaborate, and according to detective corona, it appears as though the family anticipated that something like this could happen. >> it's the price you pay sometimes knowing that when
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you're selling dogs or when you're advertising something that is pricey there is that possibility that somebody's going to come in and do harm to them or to the dogs or try to steal them. >> both suspects are convicted of robbery, but one of them, troy kabral, the gunman, is also convicted of assault and sentenced to eight years in prison. the other man, ryan betten, gets two years. lucky for them it's not dog years. speaking of dogs, the biggest question surrounding the case, what happened to the puppies? >> we got all the dogs back. the first suspect that we captured, he made some phone calls and managed to get all the dogs back to us. and we gave them back to the victims. so they probably sold them. so you install a security system, position surveillance cameras all around your home, and you think that would be enough to deter would-be robbers from invading your private sanctuary?
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not a chance, according to homeowner abraham scaline from los angeles. >> july 17, 2008, around 11:30, 12:00, two people broke through my house, took my jewelry, money, safe, my computers, and they walked way from the front door. >> it's broad daylight when the burglars walk past the security signs and enter the home through the back door. the first guy comes in and slowly looks around, checking to see if anyone is home. he realizes he's alone and decides to steal a laptop, then leaves. but that's not the end of it. >> somebody from outside in the street give him a signal on the phone if somebody's coming close to the house. and then he went out again and call another person. >> the second time two men enter and decide to check out the rest of the house.
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they enter the children's bedrooms, don't see mump there, so they continue their search. >> then they went inside my bedroom, opened the drawers, took whatever they found there, removed all the clothes from the closet. they found one safe. then they pick up the safe, they wrap it with my son blanket, and they walked away from the front door. all kind of memories from grandfather, grandmother, my mother, my father, and money. everything what i work for the last 40 years is gone. >> well, i think the suspects that burglarized this house, they was in there for approximately three minutes. >> abraham and his family are traumatized from the invasion and still don't feel safe at home. >> i was scared. my wife, she couldn't sleep for one month. my daughter, she couldn't sleep there. she sleep next to us on the floor. i feel now i live in a jail. those people should be in jail, but i feel i'm in jail right now. >> abraham is so shaken that he decides to add more security equipment to his existing arsenal.
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>> put barbed wire on my gate, electric gate, and i have a dog also. >> unfortunately no kind of home security can protect a home 100%. detective nathaniel hampton says abraham did everything a homeowner could do to protect his home and property. >> you secure your residence, and you go off to go wherever you go, and you come back and expect everything to be intact the way you left it. i think the suspect that burglarized this house, they could have gotten lucky that particular day by just seeing him back out of his driveway and assume that he was the only one in the residence. it was a golden opportunity for them to come up and just see if they could get in, and ultimately they did. >> but at least with surveillance cameras, victimized homeowners can have a fighting chance at catching the thieves. >> if you can afford some type of surveillance video, it's definitely a good protection to have, because if we can catch an
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individual on that type, most likely we will identify him or her. >> abraham immediately alerts police and shows them his video. >> after viewing the videotape, i mean i could see that it was two suspects that was involved in the incident. they were eventually identified. >> the police eventually apprehend both suspects and charge them with burglary. this palm bay, florida, home being broken into belongs to 32-year-old electrical engineer chris moffett. a few years ago chris was the victim of an attempted home invasion. >> they tried to kick in my front door while i was home. so that rattled me enough to go out and get a security camera system to where i could see somebody at the front door or around my house. especially when i'm not home. >> chris installs a $1,000 home security system that includes four cameras, a digital recorder, and a gateway to the internet. chris also plasters the exterior
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of his house with warnings that clearly display the name and logo of the security system that's protecting his home. the signs are really hard to miss. but they don't seem to deter these dumb criminals. even the window that they break clearly has the adt seal on it. but they are determined to get in and steal something. >> on the video itself you'll see the two suspects come around the corner of the house. they walk over to the camera, point it back down toward the ground. >> but what these two wannabe robbers don't realize is that their mugs have already been caught on camera. >> as they flip it down toward the ground, we catch some really nice face shots that we can freeze frame. >> and it's this smiling face on the surveillance video that's taken into evidence by the police and released to the media. >> once it was on the news, the police got flooded with phone calls because of the good face shots of the suspects. the police actually issued a
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$1,000 reward, and a lot of people responded right away. probably even their friends turned them in for the $1,000 reward. >> both suspects are caught within four days of the crime. >> it's nice to know that my investment paid off and that the system's working and keeps my house safe when i'm not home. coming up -- a naked man seen running down the hallway of a philadelphia apartment building. >> and when you think you've seen it all, here's something a little new. >> a woman logs on and watches a robbery in her home live. >> they're coming into my house and robbing it. >> and what's gotten this neighbor so ticked off? >> the more he stopped, the more i did it. >> when "caught on camera: invasion" continues.
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friday evening isn't brotherly at all. more like bizarre. >> i can't even look out the window without being scared right now. >> joyce roo is terrified because her apartment has been ransacked by a burglar. >> took my laptop, just trashed everything in the room. when he heard the police were coming, he snuck back out. without clothes on, by the way. >> yes. you heard right. the intruder in joyce's apartment has no clothes on. he's naked. nude. bare. >> it started off just pretty much like any other crime. >> deanna durante, a reporter for nbc's wcau, gets a rumor from one of her police sources about a man running naked down a hallway in an apartment building. >> he said, hey, can you help us out, put these surveillance pictures on tv? >> police are concerned that because the suspect is nude the crime may be of a sexual nature. and because the incident happens at an off-campus housing site where a few students from a
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nearby university live, the police are eager to unravel the mystery. >> we tried to keep the serious tone because he broke into an apartment where single young women live. they didn't know, were they dealing with someone who has a sexual predator background or were they dealing with just some kook they didn't know. >> so not only do the police release the surveillance tape to the media but they post it on the internet. and with a quick click of the mouth this invader's bare essentials debut around the world. >> he was able to walk right into the front door. at the time he's not dressed like you would expect an adult man to be dressed at 4:00 on a friday afternoon. >> the suspect tries to open different apartment doors to see if he can get in. >> found one that was unlocked, went inside, took his clothes off, trashed the place, left with a laptop computer, and he left behind his clothes. >> at this point the surveillance camera captures the suspect running down the hallway, completely buck naked.
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>> we live in philadelphia, a city that has seen 300-plus murders in a year. so we're not shocked by much. but this is one, you know, when you think you've seen it all, here's something a little new. guy running around in a thunderstorm knocking on windows trying to get into apartments naked. at first we thought it was bizarre. >> through tips police find their man. his name is michael victor, and he lives right across the street from the apartment building. and not only that, he works in the neighborhood. >> he's an elementary school janitor that was employed with the school district of philadelphia up until his arrest. not only is he running around naked, but he's been in a school with kids. >> according to court papers, the story michael victor tells investigators is that he came home, drank a significant amount of alcohol, and broke into a neighbor's home. that's when he loses it. all of it. >> he goes next door, helps himself to a beer from his vacationing neighbor's refrigerator, takes off his clothes, then rifles through the belongings of their teenage
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daughter and the woman who lives in the home. >> he then leaves the neighbor's home, enters the off-campus apartment building, takes a computer, and leaves, without a stitch of clothing. neighbors can't believe the man they've known for years now has a bum rap. >> i'm shocked, really. i'm kind of happy that we know who it is and that, you know, he's going to be put away, you hope anyway. and it's a little disturbing that he lives right next door toll me. >> we hear it all the time. quiet guy, see him every day. we had no idea. >> do you have anything to say? >> michael victor pleads guilty to burglary, attempted burglary, indecent exposure, and criminal mischief. in april 2010 he's sentenced to 11 to 23 months in prison. >> he said he has some severe issues to deal with and he's in the process of dealing with those now, and he's going to upon release enter facility so that he can deal with the issue. he's very sorry, and he's going to take action to make sure nothing like this ever happens again.
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>> i think one thing i find amazing is when we go out, we're always asking is there video? do you have surveillance pictures? that's what we ask police. and i'm always surprised that people who are doing something they shouldn't be or people who are in places they shouldn't be aren't thinking about the fact that they might be caught on tape. >> independence, kentucky. 2006. the hall family suspects their 16-year-old daughter lindsay is the victim of a peeping tom. and their fear is confirmed with a startling discovery. >> i was freaking out. i was crying and screaming. >> the halls set up a surveillance camera outside lindsay's basement bedroom window hoping to catch the creep, and they do. the suspect tries to remove the camera, but not before his image is clearly caught on camera. the family checks the video and calls 9-1-1. >> i knew right then he was out there. and so i sneaked in the kitchen
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and i called 9-1-1. >> the police respond and find fresh footprints and knee markings by the window. a police dog tracks the scent to the suspect's home, which is only blocks away. >> the track was 1,000, 1,500 yards to the rear of the residence. basically just a street over. >> that was pretty scary to me, knowing that he was that close to me. >> the suspect is 28-year-old john morgan, a married father of two. he admits to police that, yes, indeed, he is the man on the tape. >> when i watched that video, it was like watching a scary movie on the outside of my home. >> i wanted to take him out of this world is what i wanted to do because he pretty much changed my daughter's life forever. >> why were you peeping through that window? john, what do you have to say? >> the suspect is convicted of voyeurism and trespassing. he's sentenced to two years' probation. the halls are working with the
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local officials to change the law so that peeping toms receive more punishment for that crime. they hope it will prevent other people from peeping and creeping out anyone else. coming up -- love they neighbor? i think not. >> i don't really take it upon myself to hit everybody. but i'm afraid he got me in the wrong mood that morning. >> a feisty neighbor lashes out. when "caught on camera: invasion" continues. as a trainer, i see a lot of people
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welcome back to "caught on camera." i'm contessa brewer. sometimes home invasions involve a criminal element. but at other times an angry neighbor can seem like an invader too. how would you handle living next door to people like this? ♪ it's probably one of the more bizarre videos on the internet. a 63-year-old woman in the united kingdom armed with a dangerous weapon, a newspaper, is seen taking vengeance on this 38-year-old man. >> there's been some friction with just the one neighbor. she gets quite angry about very minor things and then sometimes shouts unpleasant things and makes threats.
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but, you know, we try not to take too much notice of that. >> reporter: luke wirr is the man in the video being pounded with the rolled-up reading material. >> two weeks before the incident happened i took the rubbish bin out, and she was shouting from the top window with lots of swearing that i wasn't allowed to pull the bin across the car park. i ignored this and carried on and put the bin at the front of our property. >> luke own's birkette's garage, and it's located right next to this apartment building, essentially making him and this woman neighbors. >> the car park that we move the bin across we have a legal right of way across, which we have held since before the building next door was built or occupied. the lady next door has no right to tell us what to do. >> but on this particular morning, luke gets an uneasy feeling that his neighbor's verbal threats may turn into something more. >> i just got the bin, and i kept my head down, looked at the floor, and started pulling it across the car park. and then it all started. >> he sees the lady standing
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mysteriously by her car and finds that really strange. >> reading a newspaper on the back of her car. i'd never seen her do that before. and knowing that i had to pull the empty bin back across to our property, i thought that she was definitely going to confront me about this. >> with this in mind he warns his co-worker, perry willings. >> so i just said to perry that when i pull the bin across something might happen, there might be an incident, so just grab your phone and record it if anything happens. >> so perry does what he's told, gets into position, and starts to record. >> i heard some loud shouting and stuff. so i got the phone out, started videoing it, and it just all erupted from there as such, and it's just like luke just told me to carry on filming it. so i did. just occasionally laughing because it was sort of funny in a strange sort of way. >> then she actually tried to push it out on the road. so i went back and stopped it in case it hit a car or went into the front of the car that was driving past.
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when she was attacking me or whatever you want to call it with the newspaper, i didn't enjoy it, obviously. at one point she actually kicked me. i just, you know, hoped it would be over soon and tried to avoid getting hit too directly. i think she had completely lost control. >> at this point perry wonders should he stop filming? should he do something to help luke? but he makes up his mind when the woman comes after him too. >> what do you think you're doing, eh? you little fart. >> that's why the film stopped. because i didn't want her to knock the phone out of my hand. i just thought, well, i'd better stop now. >> so just who is this female ball of terror scaring the bejesus out of her neighbors? >> my name's valerie dunningham. i'm 63. i'm a mother of four and a grandmother of six. and i'm 4'10". and i don't really take it upon myself to hit everybody. but i'm afraid he got me in the
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wrong mood that morning. >> valerie tells her side of the story. >> i had my car out, cleaning it, and the wheelie bin had come from here. and it's an industrial bin, not a wheelie bin. and i was walked over to here. and i pushed it. and i happened to have the newspaper in my hand. so bang, bang, bang, bang. he was here. and he went like this. he was frightened of me. he was frightened. the more he stopped, the more i did. and i went bing, bing, bing, bing. i don't know how many times. i'm sorry. i'm the wicked, evil grandmother. >> and what makes her angrier is that she sees perry in the corner of the drive-thru with his cell phone, catching
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everything on camera. >> he was there. i had my back to him. i didn't see what was happening. and when i turned round, they were videoing me. so it was a setup. it's like an ambush. >> what do you think you're doing, eh? you little fart. >> it's crazy. >> valerie's husband tries to break it up. but she says that he knows not to bother her when she's that upset because he, too, could end up getting a whipping. >> did you see him trying to pull me off? he knows what i'm like when i'm angry. there's no way he'll pull me off. >> during the incident her husband did make a fairly lame attempt to try and stop her and then gave up as it didn't seem to have any effect on her at all. >> but luke and valerie do agree about one thing. they actually started out on good terms. that's right. they were once friendly neighbors.
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>> when they first moved in, we used to get on with them and say good morning, and we actually used to do some work on their cars for them. >> it was all right at the beginning. we were quite friendly with them. >> but the newspaper attack makes things black and white for luke. he calls the police, and they give valerie a strong warning not to harass luke and perry anymore. >> i think the exact words the police used after they'd spoken to her to me was "good luck." >> i'll do it again if i've got the paper in my hand. because i said you made me so angry because it was a setup. and i don't think you can do much damage with a newspaper, can you? not to be arrested and put in prison. >> the guys want to put this incident behind them. but valerie stands her ground until the very end. >> fight for your property. what do they say? an englishman's home is his castle? i could have took my heel off
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and given him a good bang with the heel of my shoe. bing, bing, bing, bing, bing. this is insane. >> we have to take this to the police department. she's a crazy woman. >> from bang, bang in the uk to bang bang in the suburbs of orlando, florida. another pair of feuding neighbors battling not over a garbage bin but close enough. >> how about the thrash? >> why would you think we would throw trash over the fence? >> because it's lying right here. the only place it could come from -- >> have you looked at how clean we live? >> because you throw it over here. >> for 37-year-old angie haddock it all comes to a head one spring morning in 2008. >> we heard this really obnoxious banging, and it was clearly on our fence. so you know, my husband grabbed the camera and he followed me around to the side, where we found her, you know, banging away. >> angie discovers her neighbor
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trying to post a sign on her side of the fence. >> you are a riot. are you seriously doing this? >> do you see me? >> it was actually kind of comical because she couldn't get the sign to stay up. >> oh, phooey. >> the sign post saga is the culmination of months of bickering between these neighbors in side-by-side bungalows. >> moved into the house in july of '07, and within a couple months we realized that there might be a little problem with her and how she perceived us because she brought to our attention that there was some trash and debris in her yard that had seemingly come from our side of the fence, including a cigarette butt, a beer can. >> i want to build a 20-foot wall between us. trust me. you've made this very difficult. >> angie says for months she tried to mend fences by talking to the neighbor, but no luck. >> we tried calling. we tried the police. we tried, you know, getting advice from attorneys even.
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and that didn't work. and everyone we talked to was just baffled. so we just felt that if we just stay out of her way, it would go away, and it didn't. >> angie insists to her neighbor that it's not her trash, maybe it's the yard worker's. after all, angie loves her home and is obsessed with keeping it clean and tidy. >> have you looked at how clean we live? >> people who know me know that they would probably joke and say i have a touch of ocd, i don't want to live in a pigsty, i like things to look pretty. and when you have such a nice neighborhood, the last thing i would want to do is make it look worse. i want to beautify it. >> i'm sorry that you think it was us. we wouldn't do that to you. >> we contacted angie's neighbor, a 62-year-old mother of three, to get her side of the story. and she told us that she was angry that day because she believed angie and her family had been littering up her yard for months and she'd just had enough. she also asked us to blur her image for this story. >> i was told by the police department i could do this.
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and i'm going to do it. it's my fence, and it's my property. as a matter of fact, if i can't get this up i'm just going to reach over and paint -- >> no, you're not. >> it's my fence. i can do whatever i want. >> you can't -- >> well. >> surprisingly, it's the neighbor who calls the police. the police order her to remove the sign and they tell angie to get a "no trespassing" warrant to prevent the neighbor from coming only her property. angie gets the warrant, but she also gets revenge. she posts the video on youtube. >> i don't think i could have written a better script. but carry on. >> i didn't expect anyone to look at the video. in fact, i put it on there for my friends and family because they really didn't believe me, i think, how bad it was. i figured it was entertaining at best and maybe she would -- maybe she would embarrass her and she would leave us alone. >> believe it or not, angie and her neighbor have made up. angie has since moved away and moved on with her life but says if she ran into the neighbor today, you'd see a reunion quite unlike the one in this video.
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>> she would probably give me a big hug. she would want to know if i'm okay. through all of this i think she actually has developed a liking for me. and i kind of like her too. coming up -- a homeowner watches a robbery unfold on her computer. >> he's in my house. i'm seeing him walking around my house. >> you won't believe what she sees. when "caught on camera: invasion" continues.
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>> boynton beach, florida, is a bedroom community, located between two cities, fort lauderdale and west palm beach. with its waterways, manicured lawns, and tall palm trees dotting the landscape, it's a beautiful place to settle down and raise a family. >> we moved in this neighborhood about 16 years ago. we moved in the house when it was brand new. it seems to be a very nice community. lots of children around. lots of activities for the children to do. and it seems to be generally warm, and everybody seems to know other people. >> reporter: but although the community promotes a sense of peace and tranquility, like most places, it also has an underside. >> we have everything from the low-income drug crimes all the way up to white-collar frauds. >> and one spring morning jean's home becomes a boynton beach crime statistic. burglars crawl through a doggie door located in the kitchen.
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they think no one sees them. but miles away, someone is watching. >> i was at the office. i wasn't there. i was watching a live video feed of my house. and there was a man in my house, and he was robbing me. >> yes, jean thomas is at her desk watching her own home being robbed. jean's a university travel counselor, works full time, and had installed a low-cost internet-based home surveillance system a few months earlier because she'd been robbed once before. she's determined not to be a victim again. funny enough, her husband thinks it's a stupid idea. >> he thought it was absolutely crazy to buy it. i was like you know what? just humor me. i'm going to purchase this. and i just have a feeling i will be able to save something. i had no idea that i would actually catch somebody red-handed in the act by a pure feeling there's a problem.
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>> that feeling, a gut feeling, is what jean has when she decides to check the video system. >> when i logged on and it opened up, there was a man standing in my living room, taking my son's video games, collecting his remote controls, and taking it back to my bedroom. i immediately called 9-1-1 in a full panic. >> 9-1-1. >> i'm watching my home on live monitor and there's someone in my house and he's robbing it. oh, god, please hurry. please hurry. >> officer brian goldfuss is on patrol and hears over the radio there's a burglary in progress. >> while we were en route to the burglary in progress, we were being told by dispatch that the caller, miss thomas, was actually currently watching on her surveillance camera these people inside her house. >> he's in my living room in the main part of the house. >> officer goldfuss is surprised because catching a crime in progress is rare.
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>> a lot of times what we find is people have surveillance cameras, and they find it way after the fact. they get home from work, check their cameras, and see that somebody had broken into their house. it was a nice change that somebody was actually currently watching it and was able to direct us into the house to actually catch these people committing the crime. >> the police arrive at the home and catch the criminals in the act. >> at that point the person noticed that people were outside. he opened the vertical blinds, looked out, saw the police. then he must have told his buddy that was in my bedroom. then they started to panic. they ran around the house, tried to figure out how they could get out. there was no way to get out. the back was surrounded. the front was surrounded. they knew they were trapped. i saw the one go out with his hands up. the other one tried to dispose of the bag that he had thrown jewelry and stuff into. and he then went out as well. and the police apprehended them.
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>> after the suspects are detained and jean arrives home, the police ask jean for the surveillance tape. >> watching the video we saw the two suspects actually crawled in through a doggie door, which luckily enough is where the camera was pointed at. >> while the robbery is taking place, one of the suspects is so brazen he takes food out of the refrigerator. >> the big guy gets out shredded kraft mexican cheese for tacos, walks out into the living room, opens up the shredded cheese, and decides to start eating shredded cheese. obviously they hadn't eaten before they burglarize houses. >> news of the crime goes national. msnbc, telemundo, and the "today" show pick up the story, and for a day jean becomes a media darling. >> in boynton beach this morning. and jean thomas with us here in the studio. jean, good morning to you. >> when the dust finally settles, four men are apprehended.
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two that were in the home and two in the getaway car. they're charged with and plead guilty to burglary. >> at the end of the day i feel criminals don't know what they're walking into. you have no idea. and you know what? average people can catch them. with technology nowadays they don't stand a chance. coming up -- >> a bear does the bear paddle in a backyard pool. >> i went into the backyard where i came face to face and had a close encounter with a bear. >> when "caught on camera: invasion" continues. with free package pickup from the united states postal service a small design firm can ship like a big business. just go online to pay, print and have your packages picked up for free. we'll do the rest. ♪
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you want to sit back and feel groovy. and it seems that goes for bears too. ♪ a big brown bear, one that looks eerily similar to this one on the california state flag. it's invaded this san dimas home. a news helicopter captures the scene of the bear taking a leisurely swim, doing the breast stroke in this backyard pool. ♪ alex vasquez, a photojournalist for several local television stations, hears on a police scanner there's a bear in the hills. >> i'm pretty familiar with this area since i live nearby, and i cover this area pretty exclusively. i work my way up the hill when i notice that there was a news helicopter in the area, also searching for this bear. >> being the tv pro he is and wanting to get the story, alex decides to make his way onto the property and knock on the door. but no one's home.
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>> the gate was open, and i went into the backyard, where i came face to face and had a close encounter with the bear. he looked at me and kind of gave me that look of what are you doing here? and i gave him the same look and kind of basically shot video. >> alex's journalistic instincts took precedence over year. >> i wasn't scared only because i think i've covered enough bears in this area where i've kind of become a little familiar and i wanted to get the shot. >> and, yes, he gets the shot. it isn't until later that he asks himself, what was i thinking? >> i went back and thought about it, like, wow, i shouldn't have gotten that close to that bear. >> homeowner charlie heaton, who was not at home at the time, doesn't have any idea what's transpiring in his backyard. >> i came home. there was all kinds of activity. i saw some police. the sheriffs up on the hill. i ran up there, and said, what's going on, and she said, oh, there's bear up in the tree. >> but what he didn't know is that the bear also took a dip in his pool and the whole thing is caught on camera.
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he's tipped off by his daughter-in-law, who sees the news footage. >> the temperatures in the 90s out in san dimas. the bear decided to take a dip. >> charlie is thoroughly amused and forwards the video to all his friends. >> people come back and say is that your house? is that really in your pool? and i say, yeah, it's ours. it was totally fine. it's amazing that a bear would actually come down here and get in the pool and just enjoy itself. i'm very happy to have it. from big bears to feisty neighbors to brazen criminals, you might wonder how to keep peace and quiet in your home. well, that would be a whole different show, wouldn't it? if you have a video you'd like to send to us, log on to our website at caughtoncamera.msnbc.com. i'm contessa brewer. that's all for this edition of "caught on camera.
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a truck torpedos through a store front and strikes a young woman. >> that poor little girl who may be weighs 100 pounds took the whole of that dodge pickup. >> a monster machine wreaks havoc on a small town. >> oh, no, don't go for the library. >> a daring air show stunt goes from fun to frightening. >> a high-speed chase spins out of control. >> hit speeds upwards of 90 miles an hour with this truck and trailer and lawnmower. >> in this hour, high impact -- >> and it was just shocking, to say the least.
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