The Plazas, Robinson and Kelly were lucky. Within weeks, they learned they'd be getting most of their stolen items back. Charlotte-Mecklenburg police pinpointed many of the stolen goods through the serial numbers. Most had turned up at local pawnshops. Between 30 and 40 percent of break-in victims get at least some items back, investigators say, if they keep serial numbers found in owner's manuals or on cartons.
Police recommend keeping the records in a secure place, such as a safe-deposit box.
Police Investigator J.R. Jefferson, who works in the Charlie 1 District that includes most of northern Mecklenburg County, knew the break-ins were related. The pawn tickets in those cases, and several others around that time, were all signed with the same name, Reshard Hicks. Whoever the thief was, he was efficient. Between that evidence and the fingerprints and footprints left behind, investigators were pretty sure they could catch and convict this thief. Jefferson got driver's license records from the state for the name on the pawn tickets.