By Matthew “Whalehead” King
The Refrigerator Bandit kicked in our back door to take a bunch of grapes out of the fridge. Left a cell phone, computers, and jewelry untouched even though he opened all our dresser drawers. NOPD was on the scene soon after we called, recognized the M.O., took fingerprints, and were very professional and diligent about the whole thing. We got a timely response by a patrolman and, after an end-of-shift wait, Detective Waldron showed up to investigate and explain what had happened based on past experience.We live on Terpsichore Street just off Coliseum Park and Det. Waldron said this was the farthest downriver the Refrigerator Bandit had struck at the time (about a month ago).
He took a bag of loose change off my desk and the grapes, but left everything else. He dropped a grape by my desk and my wife thought it was odd I was eating fruit until she saw the busted back door.
Thanks for reporting this since I haven’t seen anything in the Times-Picayune even though I’ve been scanning it every day. I was out of town for a week and didn’t receive the paper. Not murder-worthy news but important enough to publicize, I would think since he hasn’t been caught and he is breaking into homes.
Even though the Refrigerator Bandit isn’t known to revisit the scenes of past crimes, we worried he might. We moved to New Orleans in June and this is the only crime we’ve experienced first hand. It isn’t major but is is unsettling. He could have stolen things of value and still can, while he is at large, if he develops an interest in jewelry and electronics and big ticket items rather than snacks.
We have only praise for the NOPD for their response. Thank you again for reporting on this. It may not be earth-shaking but it does effect the community and needs to be publicized. Kudos again to NOPD.
