App helps Tavares woman track home burglars

LAKE COUNTY, Fla. — Motion-activated cameras caught burglars breaking into a home and the video was sent to the homeowner’s smartphone, Tavares police said.

The men are accused of breaking into a home in the 300 block of Park Glen Drive in Tavares.

"She called and said two gentlemen had broken into her home and she was looking on video from her phone of the two gentlemen inside her home,” said Tavares police Lt. Jason Paynter.

The burglars activated a motion sensor, on the cameras and the notification was sent to the woman’s phone.

"Twenty years ago, something like this may have been a few thousand dollars. But you could go to Walmart, Target, could even go to Radio Shack, any place. For a few hundred dollars you could pretty much have your home with this kind of video,” said Paynter.

Police responded to the home within four minutes of the alert.

Police believe when the cameras turned activated, they spooked the burglars, who left with less than they might have intended to steal.

Cox Media Group