Over the past month, C-VILLE has heard rumors of an increase of city break-ins. Local podcaster Sean Tubbs had a too-close encounter with city police (and their firearms) while they were tracking down a breaking and entering suspect near his home. And in Albemarle County last month, the County Police Department arrested two individuals involved in various burglaries dating back to 2006: Shawnita Nicole Graves, 29, and Dean Elliott Graves, 26, were charged with three counts of breaking and entering and three counts of grand larceny each for incidents throughout Albemarle County. The two were caught after tips led detectives to a residence in the 800 block of Montrose Avenue, where they discovered a large amount of stolen property inside.
The news got C-VILLE wondering: Does this mean that robbery from the home is up this summer? Did thieves pilfer from city and county residences galore? Was no house left uncased?
 
The summer was below average for rainfall, but it was about right on for breaking and enterings, with about 200 in the city and the county. Among the most prominent arrests: Shawnita Nicole Graves, 29, and Dean Elliott Graves, 26, were charged with three counts of breaking and entering and three counts of grand larceny each for incidents throughout Albemarle County. Shawnita Graves was charged with one count of arson as well.
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It actually looks like it was a pretty average season for city and county burglars. There were 199 burglaries in the combined localities this summer. The city experienced a 28 percent decrease in breaking and entering numbers from last year, with a grand total of 94 between the months of May and August, though the figure is still one-thirds higher than it was in 2003. Albemarle County had a slightly higher raw total, with 105 burglaries in the four summer months. Residential burglaries in the county far outnumbered nonresidential burglaries, which comprised only a third of the total figure.
City burglars were most active in July, while county burglars favored August, with 26 and 36 successful crimes respectively. According to police, months such as July and August are the peak periods of residential burglaries due to the large number of people out of town on vacation.
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