Woman's rings stolen in Merrick home invasion

Newsday.com provides a great example of why it's a good idea to lock your doors:

Neighbors at the scene of home invasion incident which occurred on Oct. 2 on Michael William Road in Merrick. (Photo by Paul J. DeMaria)

In a home invasion Thursday night, a Merrick woman was robbed by a man who forced her to remove the rings from her fingers, stole her money and credit cards and ran off, police said.

The man entered through an unlocked back door of the Michael William Road home at 9:50 p.m. and grabbed her purse, police said.

"He then turned to the female victim, 30, and pulled at the rings on her fingers," a police report said. "The victim removed her rings and handed them over to the subject who then fled with the proceeds."

The woman complained of pain and swelling to her finger but she refused medical attention at the scene, police said.

Man pistol-whipped in home invasion

The Burlingame Daily News reports: "A man who runs a barber shop out of his home in unincorporated Redwood City was pistol-whipped and robbed by two young men Wednesday night, according to sheriff's officials.

Gilardo Mendoza, 43, suffered a head wound after the incident at his home on the 500 block of Hurlingame Avenue in the North Fair Oaks neighborhood, said Lt. Ray Lunny of the San Mateo County Sheriff's Office.

Authorities said two men ages 19 to 21 entered Mendoza's home sometime before 7:50 p.m., hit him in the head with a .22 caliber semiautomatic pistol and stole a wallet from either Mendoza or his customer.

Mendoza was treated at the scene and taken to Stanford Hospital. His customer, 37-year-old Omar Castillo of Redwood City, was uninjured.

Lunny said the robbers did not fire any shots and may have left in a van.

Lunny did not know if the barber shop was being run legally.

The first suspect was described as a thin Hispanic man with short hair, 20 to 21 years old, 5 feet 10 inches tall and wearing blue jeans.

The second suspect was described as a Hispanic man, 19 to 20 years old, 5 feet 9 inches tall and wearing a brown hat and a brown sweater.

Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call Detective John Sabel at 650-780-7656, Detective Josh Chilton at 650-780-7116 or the sheriff's office's anonymous tip line at 1-800-547-2700.

Burglar Nabbed Inside Macy's at Oak Court Mall

Motion sensors get the job done in Memphis:

Police responding to an alarm at Oak Court Mall around midnight found a burglar hiding out in Macy's .

The suspect set off motion detectors in the store, causing the alarm to sound. The man was dressed completely in black, wearing a black towel wrapped around his head. The only thing visible to police were his eyes. A police K9 unit entered the store, sniffed out the suspect and tracked him down. The police dog bit the man on the arm during the arrest. He was treated at the scene and taken to The Med but his injuries were non-critical condition. The 25-year old had two bags of jewelry on his person.

He's wanted for a previous probation violation and now faces burglary charges.

Jury finds alarm company negligent, awards $800,000 to couple

The Security System News reports from Paterson, N.J. "In what industry watchers are calling another example of why signed contracts are so important, a jury on Sept. 25 awarded $800,000 to a couple who sued their alarm company for negligence.Complete Security Systems of Marlboro, N.J., was successfully sued by long-time clients Angela and Craig Roper, whose "$1 million jewelry collection" was stolen from their home, according to news reports from The Herald News.

Gray Finney, former general counsel for ADT and an attorney with Finney Law Firm of Mobile, Ala., which specializes in security industry matters, reviewed the news reports for Security Systems News. He said it appeared that if "a contract with the typical limitation of liability provision been executed between CSS and this customer, it should have been enforceable." He noted that New Jersey courts' recognition of the limitations of liability provisions was "reiterated in the past year in a case involving ADT." (Search "Court sides with ADT" at www.securitysystemsnews.com for more information.)"

Based on everything I see [in the news story] and what I know about New Jersey enforcing the limit of liability, if there had been a written contract, this case would have been resolved in favor of the alarm company in a motion of summary judgment," Gray said.

Here are the basics of the case, according to the newspaper. The Ropers had an alarm system provided by CSS, which included a perimeter alarm system, but did not include window sensors. They also had a secondary alarm system that protected a large closet, which housed the jewelry collection. The couple claimed that they did not know that the secondary system was not professionally monitored.

The jury said that CSS did not misrepresent what it sold to the Ropers. Had there been a signed contract, this issue would have been moot as well, Gray said, because there is a standard provision in most alarm contracts that basically says the customer was offered everything available and understands what he has purchased.

CSS acknowledged that there was no signed contract between CSS and the Ropers. According to the news report, CSS's attorney said that contract was "dispensed with because the company had a decade-long relationship with Roper." The jury found that the lack of a written contract put CSS in violation of the New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act. Finney said, "That's really another reminder of the age old maxim, 'Let no good deed go unpunished.'"

This Sept. 25 verdict may not be the last chapter in the story, however. According to those with knowledge of the case, further litigation is pending. Contacted by Security Systems News, a Complete Security Systems representative said the company could not comment on the case at this time. Gregory Irwin, attorney for CSS, also declined comment.