Crime Spree At Private Development Has Residents On Edge
By: Andy Mehalshick
Updated: February 18, 2013
Butler Township, Luzerne County-- Joe Osifat said he could not believe it when he tried to turn on his truck's radio Saturday morning and the radio was gone. Osifat is a resident of Beech Mountain Lakes Development near Hazleton. He was one of a dozen residents whose vehicles were ransacked over the weekend. Osifat said, "I am stunned and want to know why this kind of thing can happen in a private community with private security?" Butler Township Police say the vehicle thefts to place late Friday into early Saturday and they have suspects. Chief Dave Pavelko told Eyewitness News, "We have several people in mind and now it's just a matter of proving it. We want to urge residents to contact us if they see anything suspicious." The General Manager of Beech Mountain lakes told the I-Team that the weekend crime spree was out of the ordinary and insisted they work hard to keep residents and their properties safe.
Comments
The issue with Beech Mt. security is, the homeowners association which is out of state mony controlled, has security preying on BML residents by writing us TRAFFIC TICKETS in our own neighborhood, rather than protect the taxpaying/dues paying residents. They need to get their priorities straight and stop bootlicking the board owners from down in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. I've lived in Beech Mountain for nearly 20 years and overall it is a very safe neighborhood. There has been the usual teen pranksters over the years. The kids trashed my mailbox once, and removed it from the pole stand many times. They also took one of my Christmas ornament angels and tossed it in the yard, and egged my front porch and car one egg each spot. Other than that no problems. The clubhouse was broken in to and robbed repeatedly for a lot of money and I don't believe they ever caught that burglar either. What's going around is coming around, as Beech Mt. management has over-taxed its residents via dues, and writing your OWN CLIENTELE traffic tickets to get money, is just lowdown lousy and money-grubbing. Keep the residents safe, and stop taxing and fining us.
Gary W.
February 20, 2013 at 8:31 am
ARE YOU KIDDING ME! These were not isolated incidents!! I lived in Beach Mountain until November of 2102 and I spend a lot of time at my sons visiting. There have been incidents of ringing doorbells in the middle of the night, escalating to lighting fireworks on the porch while my grandchildren were sleeping IN THE NEXT ROOM, and escalating further to egging and damaging his house and vehicle for OVER A YEAR!! He made complaints with proof from when he chased the perpetrator to his house and when he caught up with him he threatened my son with a baseball bat, to screen shots of them bragging about it on twitter. He complained to the Beach Mountain security and the Butler Twsp police and still NOTHING WAS DONE!! He has been using our truck for the winter and now the radio was stolen from it. How long and how serious does this need to get before something is done?
Thelma O.
February 19, 2013 at 5:49 pm
