Break-In

petepie · Post by **petepie** » Mon Jul 13, 2009 5:20 pm

Interesting story about Gallows. I thought that would be pretty secure, since there is staff on the premises and the units are so close to each other that a lurker/burglar would be hard to miss.

eramp76 · Post by **eramp76** » Tue Jul 14, 2009 12:35 pm

We stayed in Paloma Blanca on the island back in 07. The first night about 2:00 we awoke to find a guy in our bedroom going through our stuff. I yelled at him and chased him out through the sliding doors. We called the police and they did come out fairly quickly and seached around but of course did not find anything. Somehow he had overcome the locks on the slider.

Our villa rental company moved us to a very nice villa the next day. We were kind of spooked the rest of the trip but tried to enjoy it as best we could.

There is crime on St. John. While it is a great place to vacation, it is not some kind of fairy tale paradise.

Having said that, we will go back just as soon as we can!!

pipanale · Post by **pipanale** » Tue Jul 14, 2009 4:21 pm

We've stayed in 2 houses. both had front doors with locks (that we used), but they also had windowless windows (screens only). Not much we could do about that.

The first house had no safe, but had a hiding place I learned about from a different board. We stashed things there.

Last summer, we used the safe, but could not fit the laptop in it. It lived under the couch cushions when we went out. I knew that was risky, but there was really no other choice other than stashing it in the oven. Hey...there's a thought. Who's looking in the oven for a laptop?

flip-flop · Post by **flip-flop** » Tue Jul 14, 2009 4:35 pm

All of the houses we've stayed in have been pretty easy to secure. One thing I liked about Casa Luna was that it had the poles (for lack of a better word, and don't let your minds wander too far) to put in when the sliders were closed to make them even more secure. Those sliding glass locks are typically crap!

On a positive note, we all thought our cleaning was going to be on Wednesday, instead it was on Tuesday. I had thrown a load of laundry in the wash on my way to the beach Tuesday morning. I returned to find my clothes neatly folded and a freshly washed wad of 3 $20s sitting on top. Clearly I had left the $$ in my pants pocket. I would have never known it was gone but was very pleased to see it sitting there.

jan · Post by **jan** » Tue Jul 14, 2009 4:48 pm

The last few times we rented a villa I brought along 3 door alarms called bell hop. I just hung them from the door knob and put a little bit of tape over the prongs to secure that they did not slip out. One night one of the alarms went off and there is no way that it slipped or the wind knocked it out. Someone was trying to get in the villa and I guess the sound of the alarm scared them off. My husband made fun of me at first but if I remember correctly they were $9.99 each and it gave me total piece of mind.

petepie · Post by **petepie** » Tue Jul 14, 2009 5:21 pm

I've recommended the door alarms (and brought them) so that we would know if children had opened bedroom doors to the villa exterior, but they would probably work just as well at deterring burglars. When they go off, they are really LOUD. I got ours on Amazon for $4-7 (search for wireless window alarm, wireless door alarm)

Exit Zero · Post by **Exit Zero** » Tue Jul 14, 2009 5:59 pm

I don't know if I have ever seen a post get 3000 views in such a short time.

hotrns · Post by **hotrns** » Wed Jul 15, 2009 9:44 pm

Thanks!! I will definately have to remember the door alarms ... perhaps we can sleep with the sliders open again!

laurie · Post by **laurie** » Wed Jul 15, 2009 11:42 pm

We are on another island at the moment and were just robbed!! We have never locked our doors and have felt very safe on our other favorite island (Nantucket , Ma) Sitting in our living room , a woman walked in , asked to use the phone for a cab,,, she left with my husbands wallet which was on the kitchen counter.... we feel so stupid,,,,you can be violated anywhere and because we are honest people and not criminals we never imagine these things happening. I hate the idea of keeping my door locked!! Sorry this happened on STJ, we have never felt unsafe there, after this we will stop being so naive. Laurie

MrB · Post by **MrB** » Thu Jul 16, 2009 8:01 am

I think you would be doing all the rest of us a favor if you at least mentioned the villa company, if not the villa itself. My wife and I stay in a villa off rock ridge all the time, and I would feel safer knowing it was not that villa.

toes in the sand · Post by **toes in the sand** » Thu Jul 16, 2009 9:08 am

MrB wrote:I think you would be doing all the rest of us a favor if you at least mentioned the villa company, if not the villa itself. My wife and I stay in a villa off rock ridge all the time, and I would feel safer knowing it was not that villa.

While I understand the desire to make sure that our visits to the island are safe, I would hesitate posting names here UNLESS you feel that there was something lacking on the part of the Villa or management that either allowed this to happen or if the response by the management was severely lacking. A break-in could happen at any villa on the island. A post of the names could harm the reputation of a villa or management. If they have done everything they could to keep this from happening I would hate to see them harmed.

Perhaps it would be helpful to post what might have contributed to the break-in such as proximity to roads, construction in area, visibility to neighbors, types of windows or doors etc. so that we know what to look for when renting or securing a villa.

It was the burglar not the villa that is the criminal unless there was neglegence.

MrB · Post by **MrB** » Thu Jul 16, 2009 9:15 am

OR

It could be that the unstated villa is now known as an "easy target" by the St John criminal element. Or it could be that the unmentioned the villa company is known to be lax in it's help to prevent said break-ins.

We just don't know. I thought this forum was for sharing information about St John. No one is saying that this will happen to everyone that stays there, but wouldn't you want to know??

From research on old posts, the news looks dire for MrsB and myself anyway, but I want to be SURE.

Lulu76 · Post by **Lulu76** » Thu Jul 16, 2009 10:38 am

Mr. B,

I went back and checked and it appears that he did stay where you usually stay. However, I am not familiar with that villa, and when I googled it to find out the management company, I couldn't really figure out who's in charge there. And I would like to know that because the original poster said that he was "underwhelmed" by their response. I think it's fair to mention them in that case, just so we all know what to expect in that same situation.

The villa that we stayed in where the property manager was obsessed with keeping the house secure was also on Rock Ridge Road. I think that area is probably an easy target for this kind of stuff because as far as I can tell it is almost all rental houses. I hate to say this, but tourists generally are easy targets because we do bring iPods, fancy cameras, lots of cash, etc., along with us.

This isn't going to change my mind on where I stay and what villas I like, but I am definitely going to be smarter.

I'm still not sleeping with the windows closed in a room with no air, but if someone wants my money bad enough to come in through the window while I'm sleeping, then I guess he can have it.

liamsaunt · Post by **liamsaunt** » Thu Jul 16, 2009 10:42 am

I think it could be helpful to name the villa. I know the names of a couple of villas that have been broken into on multiple occasions. I'd still consider renting one of them. The others we would not have picked anyway for other reasons--usually that they are right on a road.

That said, breakins can happen anywhere. Someone tried to break in to our house while we were on St. John. They were unsuccessful but we have one layer of a multi-layered paned glass door to replace. I still feel safe in my home. We were away for a long time and crap happens, especially in this economy.

cypressgirl · Post by **cypressgirl** » Thu Jul 16, 2009 10:48 am

I'd want to know if the villa I was about to rent had been recently broken into. At the very least, I'd take all the extra precautions I could, like the door alarms that were previously mentioned. I normally don't go to that extreme to safe guard our villa, but if I thought there was a chance it was an easy target for criminals, for what ever reason, I'd take the extra measures.

I also have a huge problem leaving my daughter (age 17)at the villa by herself at night, to run into town for a drink or two. I just can't do it. If it looks like there are renters, but no car in the driveway, and someone breaks it while she's there alone, that could be a much worse senario.

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Break-In