CHARLOTTE, N.C. (WBTV) - According to Union County Sheriff’s Office incident reports, 25 vehicle break-ins were reported in Indian Trail this month.

19 of them happened overnight Monday.

“In the middle of the night about 4 am, a sheriff’s deputy knocked on my house and said hey I think your cars have been broken into!” Richard Klaus said.

Klaus says someone rummaged through his truck and sedan which were parked in his driveway along Stratford Road.

“But nothing was taken of mine,” he said. “We accidentally left our vehicles unlocked.”

A neighbor caught someone opening his car door on his Ring doorbell footage. The video shows someone looking in his car and then walking away. He did not find anything in the cars in this footage, but he was already carrying items.

“A criminal is going to search for items within your car, especially if they can look through the window and see if you have a valued item in plain view,” Lt. James Maye with the Union County Sheriff’s Office told WBTV.

In one report, someone smashed through the window of a bail bondsman’s car, stealing a gun, taser, bulletproof vest and radio.

“It is very sad and yes it scares you a lot,” Marina Ramirez, who has lived in this Indian Trail neighborhood for two decades, told WBTV.

Ramirez says her daughter had her wallet stolen out of her unlocked car. According to the report, the thief spent more than $600 with her debit card.

She says it’s the last time she’ll leave her car unlocked.

“We’ll just have to keep our eyes open and our locks on,” she said.

Officials recommend locking your car, removing valuables from inside of it and installing motion lights facing your driveway.

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