Taylor Walker, 28, 71259 Shady Lake Dr., Covington and Brittney Calabresi, 20, 72067 Cypress St., Abita Springs were booked Monday into the St. Tammany Parish Jail on one count of simple burglary, five counts of illegal possession of stolen things and one count of possession of drug paraphernalia.

George Bonnet, spokesman for the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office, said the alleged burglars were apprehended in River Oaks after an alert citizen noticed Calabresi trying to get into cars.

Calebresi fled the scene, but not before the citizen recorded the car’s license plate number, which deputies used to locate and arrest the duo.

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Other areas affected were Arrowwood Estates and Abita Lakes

Michael Seeger, a computer security expert with an Air Force background, was the victim of car burglary last weekend that nearly turned his life upside down.

Seeger usually locks his car on reflex, but when he returned home late from an event exhausted, he forgot. The result was about 30 seconds worth of crime that could have resulted in a lot of problems for Seeger, both in the items stolen and information that would mean noting to anyone else, but was vital for him.

He had a laptop stolen, along with two digital cameras, external hard drive, business documents, accessories for the computer and his cell phone.

At first he thought the burglary occurred in Covington at a gas station, so he called the Covington Police Department early Sunday morning. At 2:30 a.m. Monday, he received a phone call from the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office. Seeger went to the office where he identified his stolen property.

He said that he thought he would be angry, but when he saw the alleged perpetrators, he wondered what went wrong in their lives to make burglarize cars.

On Wednesday, Seeger asked Capt. Barney Tyrney at the Law Enforcement Complex if the arrested man needed a mentor.

Tyrney said it is rare to recover stolen merchandise in car burglaries. Once material was recovered, deputies began knocking on doors in affected neighborhoods and contacted more victims.

“It’s a crime of opportunity—98 percent of all car burglaries are unlocked cars,” said Tyrney. “They want in and out fast and do not want to attract attention,” he said. In these types of crimes, opportunity is the key, he said. They will take whatever is on the seat or in sight. Most merchandise recovered was everyday items people have on the front seat, such as cell phone chargers, backpacks, CDs and sunglasses. Even a plastic cup filled with ink pens and pencils that was in a cup holder had been stolen.

Tyrney said that car burglars will find an area with a lot of cars, such as a parking lot or a heavily populated street and simply try the doors, one after another. It can be in the middle of the night, or during the day at a shopping area. He said the entire crime takes about 30 seconds.

Seeger said that he has a few words of advice: keep your car locked, have a security plan for your family, including locking your residence, know your neighbors and form a neighborhood watch. Tyrney also said it’s a good idea to mark items with a symbol or code so they can be easily identified if recovered.