Fifth home in Oakland burglarized

For the fifth time this month, an unknown person robbed a central Oakland home, the latest in a string of robberies that police say are not connected.

This time, an unknown person broke into a home on the 3700 block of Dawson Street late Wednesday evening, stealing multiple valuables.

Pitt and city police responded to the incident, which they believe took place between 10 p.m. Wednesday and 12:30 a.m. Thursday, while the residents of the home were gone. When the residents returned to their house, they said multiple valuable items were missing, though they never saw an intruder in their home or in the area. According to University spokesperson John Fedele, the victims of the burglary are Pitt students.

Emily Schaffer, assistant public information officer for the city’s Department of Public Safety, said in an email that an iPad, gaming console, video games and headphones were stolen from the Dawson home, which the perpetrator entered through an unlocked window.

The string of burglaries began at about 4 a.m. on Oct. 9, when Pitt and city police responded to a report of a burglary on the 300 block of Semple Street and, less than an hour later, responded to a second report of a burglary on the 300 block of Meyran Avenue.

Less than a week after these two incidents, another burglary was reported on the 300 block of Semple at about 4 a.m. on Oct. 14. A home on the 3600 block of Bates Street was then burglarized the following day, at about 2 a.m. on Oct. 15.

Fedele said the University is responding to these crimes by increasing Pitt police patrol and amping up awareness through crime alerts sent through email and social media.

Police said no one was injured in any of the five Oakland home burglaries.

The victims of the Oct. 9 burglary on Semple were the only ones to report seeing the perpetrator, although the police only know the person was a man.

Schaffer said all five burglaries are under investigation and are being investigated separately. Police have not updated the original crime reports from the previous four burglaries.

In an unrelated case, police are also looking for a 50- to 60-year-old man involved in an Oct. 6 robbery. The man, about six feet tall with a deep voice, robbed a woman at the PNC Bank ATM at the corner of North Craig Street and Fifth Avenue. He reportedly reached over the victim’s shoulder as she stood at the ATM and took money from her hand and pushed her to the ground. The victim said she bit the perpetrator on his left arm before he fled the scene.

The police departments are asking that anyone with information regarding any of the above incidents call the Pittsburgh Police Department at 412-422-6520 or Pitt police at 412-624-2121.