Dacula Woman Arrives Home and Surprises Burglar

A 22-year-old Dacula woman interrupted a burglar in the act when she arrived home from work on July 10.

According to a Gwinnett County Police report, the woman pulled into the carport of her home in the 3000 block of Mary Todd Lane around 9 a.m. and saw a man standing in the back by some bushes.  When the man spotted her, she said, he took off running toward a van parked on a gravel driveway in the back of the home near her father's workshop. 

The woman described the suspect as a white man, tall and thin, wearing a bright orange shirt with a pink baseball hat that he used to cover his face as he sped past her in a white van, possibly a Chrysler Town and Country or a Dodge Grand Caravan. She didn't recognize either the man or the vehicle, so she immediately called her father, the report states.

At the scene, officers discovered glass in the back door to the home had been shattered and the doorknob was unlocked, but intact spiderwebs on the door and frame and other evidence indicated that the door had not been opened and no one had entered through the window.

The carport door, which leads to the house, was also found unlocked and three rifles were laying on the floor beside it.

When the father arrived, he confirmed that someone had forcibly opened his gun case. Two older-model rifles and a shotgun, collectively valued at about $1,200, were missing.  He also said he didn't know anyone who drives a van like the one his daughter had described.

Officers noted in the report that the gravel driveway on the property to the right of the main driveway isn't obvious from the roadway, and it appears the suspect may have been familiar with the property.

A neighbor said he noticed the van around 8 a.m. but he never saw the driver.

The case is listed as active.