Gore Police are investigating a spate of car break-ins that happened on one Friday night, last month.
One woman, whose home is in the same West Gore area said she may have been victim to the same offender, two weeks earlier.
Last week in a press release, police said they had received at least five reports of vehicles allegedly being broken into around Broughton St overnight on August 22 and 23.
Photos of the alleged offender from one of the victims’ security cameras were posted on social media, and at least two commenters believed they were victims of the same person.
Brooke Wilson, who lives with her partner on Herbert St, said earlier that month, on August 3, her own camera had picked up what she thought was an intruder around 3am.
She said she had been out with a friend and came home to change, before leaving again for the night.
It was stupid, but she said she had a few drinks and forgot to lock her front door.
At 3am her security camera picked up someone coming off the road, up her driveway, and peering into her lounge window.
In the next clip she could see the person again approaching the house, and reaching the bottom of her front steps.
There was no footage of the person walking back down the driveway, which is why Ms Wilson thinks they walked through her house and exited through the back door.
Her neighbour also had cameras that were alerted and said around the same time she heard Ms Wilson’s dog barking loudly.
"He could hear my dog really going nuts so that’s what makes me think he’s gone out the back," she said.
Nothing was stolen from the house, but Ms Wilson was left spooked and had a friend check that anything was missing before she came home the next day.
She said she and her partner had nothing easy to pick up like a laptop, which was why nothing was taken.
"You don’t want to be carrying like a TV down the street do you?" she said.
Two weeks later, a car was broken into at Dione Grant’s house on Crewe St on the night of August 22.
She said her son’s friend was staying over after the Maruawai College Ball and the small back window of his car was smashed and his wallet taken.
Mrs Grant said the young man did not notice it was stolen until he went to buy something the next day, and could not pay.
"Bit stressful at that age," she said.
Mrs Grant said break-ins were not so common in the area, though her car was broken into a couple of years ago.
She said police found the offender the next day using camera footage from businesses next to her house and transaction times on her bank card.
She was hopeful police could use the same investigative techniques to solve these latest thefts.
When contacted, Gore police said their inquiries were ongoing.
