LITTLE ROCK, AR- Police say 'For Sale' signs were treated as welcome mats over the last few months by one burglar.
"He opened the door and walked through my house, walked back into my closet and that's where he had taken my jewelry," said Melissa Rowland. Rowland first noticed the lock box missing from her home up for sale in June. She later noticed missing family heirlooms.
"That was jewelry of my mothers and my grandmother and my great grandmother and I wanted to give that to my daughter and I can't. I can't get that back."
"We just thought it was an isolated incident until it started happening over and over," said broker Paulette Richie.
Another victim later got a look at the suspect and called police. George Sedberry now faces five counts of residential burglary and theft of property with more charges to come.
Police say Sedberry was taking lock boxes from homes up for sale, got the keys out and would return later.
"Most of the neighbors are going to think the house is on the market, people coming and going, if somebody has a key to get in then it would be okay," said Richie. "The boxes are really almost indestructible to get into but if you take them somewhere, tools can be used."
"I think that he was obviously very creative and knew what he was doing but i'm glad that somebody caught him," said Rowland.
Now, Rowland is using a new realtor and the lock box is well entact on her door.
According to police, there are many more victims who have reported missing lock boxes and jewelry in North Little Rock, Benton, Bryant and Maumelle. Police add no one noticed because the suspect was replacing the stolen lock boxes with empty ones so the homeowner wouldn't notice it was gone and change the locks before he could return.
