Belleville resident Todd Horn Sr. woke early Tuesday morning to an alarm set off by a motion sensor in his truck parked outside his home in the Ogles subdivision on Sunset Drive.
Later, after he scared off a vehicle burglar with his flood light and watched the man run down the street, he would check the footage from the surveillance camera he keeps on the passenger side of his truck.
In the videos, Horn captured a fairly clear picture of a man's face.
"I was expecting a kid going through these cars, which is usually the case," he said. "It's always good to know who's walking through your neighborhood."
Horn made a report with the St. Clair County Sheriff's Office and shared the footage on social media in hopes that someone would recognize the man.
"A lot of people are sharing it and putting it out there. I'm surprised no one has said this guy looks familiar —it's a pretty good picture," Horn said.
He said as of Tuesday afternoon it had over 5,900 views.
St. Clair County Sheriff's Office Capt. Bruce Fleshren said deputies did take a report of a vehicle break-in to Horn's 1997 Chevy pickup truck.
"There have been several vehicles stolen in that area in the last several weeks," Fleshren said. "I don't know that it's more than normal and we don't have a suspect."
He said one of the stolen cars ended up being a vehicle repossession and another car was recovered in East St. Louis.
"So are all these related? I can't say that they are from what we know at this point," the captain said. "Many of these things can be prevented by not leaving things in your car and locking your vehicles at night — that always helps to prevent these things. Sometimes these are unlocked cars and it's a random opportunity someone is walking by, checking handles for unlocked cars."
Horn said the man stole a few drill bits and a phone charger from the vehicle — he said the man didn't have time to steal anything bigger, such as his radio speakers.
"We live in a good neighborhood, one of the best neighborhoods in Belleville, to tell you the truth," Horn said. "But you've got to keep an eye out for things … Maybe (the police) can kind of connect the dots — it may turn into something more and if not, at least I know who did it."
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