By Greg Walsh
Managing Editor
KEYSTONE HEIGHTS – George Hodgman knew the burglars were coming back.
It was only a matter of time.
Angered about having his shed pilfered and a go-cart that belonged to his grandchildren stolen along with power tools, Hodgman decided to install a motion-detector activated camera in a tree in his yard.
The results surprised even him: A total of 136 images allegedly showing three men entering the rear bedroom of his home.
"We got them going into the window, we got them going out of the window, we got them sitting in the window, we got them walking across the yard with our things," Hodgman said. "It’s the best $119 I ever spent."
The Clay County Sheriff’s Office says Hodgman’s efforts made it possible for them to arrest two Keystone Heights men and the 17-year-old son of one of the men.
The first burglary at the Hodgman’s home in the 5800 block of Oak Leaf Road happened in January. Hodgman said he didn’t know who did it but he suspected it was someone local because the burglary had occurred after everyone was out of the house.
Hodgman was talking with co-workers about the break-in when one of them suggested he get a camera used by hunters to monitor traps and wildlife feeding areas. He set the camera, which has a sensitivity range of about 40 feet, to take two photographs every minute once it senses motion.
"I put it in a tree about 12 feet off the ground. Nobody was going to mess with it," he said.
After discovering the second break in on Saturday, Jan. 31, he retrieved the camera and began looking at the images of the three suspects. Hodgman said he didn’t recognize the men but a friend who lives nearby did and gave deputies their names.
"She knew everybody who was there," Hodgman said. And thanks to the camera, "We knew what time they were there, how long it took them and what they had taken."
Among the items stolen were two antique rifles valued at more than $1,000 each, along with video and still cameras and thousands of dollars in jewelry. The guns and cameras were recovered, he said, but the jewelry has not been.
The go-cart also was found but it was heavily damaged, he said.
Charged with armed burglary, grand theft of a firearm and grand theft were Walter Woodrow Watts, 37, his son, Water Derek Watts, 19, and Sean Anthony Castell, 17, all of West Overlook Drive in Keystone Heights.
Hodgman said the incident made him and his neighbors believers in the value of video surveillance to prevent crime.
"I hope everybody starts putting up cameras in their yards," he said. "It’s cheap security … and it doesn‘t make a mess in your yard, you know, like a dog."
February 5th 2009 - 8:46AM