Residents at The Pearl apartments tell CHS that somebody broke into their parking garage overnight and broke into several cars. Unlike other recent parking garage break-ins, the target in this burglary wasn’t electronics or the cars themselves. Instead, the thief was looking for paperwork and materials like checks and credit cards which can be used in identity fraud crimes.

Four or five cars were broken into sometime early Thursday after a thief was able to enter the garage in the apartment building at 15th and Madison.

Other burglaries since the start of November involving secured parking garages have occurred on E. Denny, two different locations on Summit Ave (one in the 700 block the other in the 1600 block), Broadway E, and 12th Ave. One of the Summit garages also appears to have been the location where a car was stolen after a break-in in early November.

The modus operandi in the secured garage break-ins are similar. One or more car windows will be busted out to give the thief access to the vehicle. Once inside, the burglar will rifle through the glove box and the rest of the car looking for paperwork, cash, checks or credit cards. Many car owners report that nothing has been taken in the break-in of their vehicle — the car burglar apparently deemed their scratched CDs and stack of coffee stamp cards unworthy of theft.

So why not steal the car while you’re at it? Car theft is actually down nearly 36% vs. 2008 while all other types of theft are up more than 40%. One hypothetical cause: the bad economy. There’s no money in stolen clunkers. Identity theft? That, apparently, is much more lucrative.