YOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan — Yokota officials are cautioning residents to secure their belongings and remain watchful around neighborhoods after four house thefts were reported last week on the base’s east side.
Maj. Chris Watt, a 374th Airlift Wing spokesman, said all the incidents occurred in garden units along Pease Drive as the residents slept. They took place between midnight and 5 a.m. last Monday and Wednesday, he added.
The cases are under investigation by base security forces, he said.
"Base residents are encouraged to be vigilant and to be mindful of always locking doors of their homes and vehicles and be conscious to not present yourself as a possible victim," Watt said Friday.
In one instance, a family was sleeping upstairs when someone entered an a garden unit through an unlocked back door and stole a purse on the first floor, according to Watt. No money was taken.
"They kept the purse and electronic devices in it," he said. "[The recent cases] were all relatively the same type of theft. Electronic devices, money, wallets — all loose items you could easily see and grab after entering an unlocked door."
With the fall’s "no heat, no cool" period under way, more residents are leaving windows and doors open at night.
Thursday and Friday posts in an online forum called "Yokota Talk" suggested some people get lulled into a false sense of security living on base.
"There is no off-season for these kinds of crimes," Watt said.
The Yokota Talk site also contained plenty of concerns about last week’s house thefts.
"There have been several in-home robberies recently while people are asleep. The person or persons have been going from house to house checking for unlocked doors and windows and proceeding to rob them," one entry said.
The incidents appear similar to the string of home burglaries that occurred at Misawa Air Base in northern Japan last fall when more than $3,000 in property was stolen. In November, a male spouse admitted to five of the eight crimes and was barred from all U.S. military bases in Japan and returned to the United States.
Anyone with information about the recent Yokota house thefts is asked to contact 374th Security Forces Squadron investigators at DSN 225-7479.
