Thieves ransack soldier’s dream home

[unhappycamper]

Thieves ransack soldier’s dream home
The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday Nov 14, 2007 15:13:35 EST

CLEVELAND — A Cleveland woman just back from military service says thieves stole the homecoming she’d been dreaming of.

Last year, Army Sgt. Gertie Lynn bought a bungalow in the neighborhood on the southeast side where she grew up. Lynn says that while serving with a medical unit in Germany, she had a calendar and was counting down the days until she could return to the home.

When she went back last week, she was stunned to find the place had been broken into and picked clean. She lost her TV and CDs, along with her new water heater and all the copper piping. In the attic, insulation and drywall were ripped out.

Cleveland City Councilwoman Nina Turner and the USO are seeking donations to help Lynn, now living with an aunt.


Article at: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2007/11/ap_deploymenttheft_071114/

[nosmokes]

1. WTF? Her neighbors sure went AWOL on her.

That's a helluva welcome, huh?

[izquierdista]

2. No sense of community

If this was the neighborhood where she grew up, why weren't there lots of people watching the place for her? Does she have no friends, relatives, or acquaintances? The article doesn't say how long she was gone, but if it was more than just a couple of weeks, couldn't she have rented it short-term to someone?

Quite a bizarre story. Not that a bungalow unattended for months could be ransacked and gutted, but that the absentee owner seemed not to foresee that as a possibility and arrange for it to be occupied.