house break in Chapala Haciendas 2

early sat am 3 or so, some one busted thru the back door. stole my wallet and cash I had gotten on Thursday for a trip to las vegas now we have lived here for 8 years and since it is 25 steps up to our house, no one gives a notice until sat am. I had gone to exchange pesos for American dollars at the bank by wings, 1,000 dollars. The worst part is that he had a bat or two by four and beat me up until I was knocked out. My wife came out of her bedroom and started where are the dineros, so he had to know we had money in the house. Just my hunch the guy at the bank called a buddy told him everything. Bottom line I have 26 stiches and a totally bruised body, but I lived. Our frac president thinks he know the guy has tattoos on arms and chest and is tall, so keep a look out for a guy matching that discreption thanks in advance john and barbi

I hope you don't think "the guy at the bank" that you are referring to is the guard; I don't think so. Every time I'm at the bank I take out $1000US as do many of us. There may have been a "special" guy at the bank the day you were there. While you were being robbed and beaten the fracc security guy was across the fracc attending to two attempted break-ins that he had received calls about.

I'm so sorry to hear this. Was it at the ATM or inside you took the money. I use that ATM so now I need to be sure no one is watching.

Gosh, I must be a coward, because I would never ever take out $1000 US from my bank in Mexico. My limit is about $150 US or maybe $3000 pesos. And truly I don't know anyone who would withdraw $1,000 US at a Mexican bank or the equivalent in pesos.

When needing more funds somewhere, I would write a check, use debit or credit cards or perhaps wire the amount from or to a Bank account up north.

And yes when needing to pay someone a large amount I might ask him to come to my bank where I would withdraw the very large amount and pay him there.

I am sorry to hear this but glad to see you are up and about John. Thanks for warning others.

MexicoPete wrote:Gosh, I must be a coward, because I would never ever take out $1000 US from my bank in Mexico. My limit is about $150 US or maybe $3000 pesos. And truly I don't know anyone who would withdraw $1,000 US at a Mexican bank or the equivalent in pesos.

When needing more funds somewhere, I would write a check, use debit or credit cards or perhaps wire the amount from or to a Bank account up north.

And yes when needing to pay someone a large amount I might ask him to come to my bank where I would withdraw the very large amount and pay him there.

HUH!!!! I routinely have to withdraw more than that. $150 USD barely buys anything now a days, even here. Write a check?? I haven't written a check since 1995.....lol.

So sorry that happened to you. It does seem he had to have had some kind of inside knowledge.

I wish you would post this in either Chapala Hacienda's Facebook groups...we have one for info and one for crime.

I too am sorry this happened to you John. Hope you heal well, in body and spirit. Thank you for sharing.

Edited to add: I think I can speak for most of us here, John, and say if there is anything we can do to help just say so.

So sorry to hear, what a terrible & scary thing to have happen. I trust your lovely and charming wife is o.k., she's a real peach. And I hope your recovery will be swift, geeez.

Pretty insensitive, Pete. This is not about you or your money.

Did the police come ? I understand the police have no money for Pemex.....neither do the transitos

For Chapala Haciendas Residents: https://www.facebook.com/groups/VecinosAlertasChapalaHaciendasNeighborhoodWatch/?ref=br_rs
And
https://www.facebook.com/groups/132369587636097/?ref=search

Wow now that is scary and am sure glad you walked away with only stitches. I withdraw 10,000.00 pesos a day from that ATM (Monday to Friday, weekends its always out of money) because I need to pay workers and material for some apartments I am finishing. Every Friday I always give a tip to the guard.
My neighbor had my apartment keys for 3 days because I was sick. Then 5000 pesos went missing..she obviously made copies.
Had to have Arragon the locksmith change all my locks and never peeped a word out of concern for my safety.
And yes I keep a "toy" handy just in case.
Hope they catch this bastard.

Some of us have been here a long time and seen the crime wave trends.  Before this all gets out of hand, I’m going to chime in.  
I know initially, giving the heads up to newbies it sounds so scary but it’s no different than securing your car except it’s securing your house.  There should be a brochure for expats on how to secure your home when new living out of the country.   Once you get the hang of it, it’s no big deal.

To my neighbor that was beaten the other night, I’m so sorry.  No one should ever have an experince like that.  I’m very keyed up about it and on high alert.  Please, if you can join our neighborhood watch group for Vecinos Alertas Chapala Haciendas Facebook group.  It is a private group, you must live here as a resident, own or rent.  We do ask that those who participate not publicize everyone else’s business.  Like our neighbor, who had the experience happen to him, has complete liberty to post his personal experince publically.  We talk amoungst ourselves as neighbors if we see anything suspicious.  Doesn’t matter if it’s a false alarm.   The page was created about 6+ years ago.

Personally, I don’t think our neighbor was targeted because he went to the bank.  There’s many reasons why someone would need money.  Could have gone furniture shopping and spent before going to bed that night.  Unless you were broadcasting to everyone at the bank what you were doing with the money, I wouldn’t worry about it.  

From what I’ve been told, we’re looking out for a tall Mexican man with a handlebar mustache, tattoos on his neck and arms.   He’s a known “Rat” ciminal and been kicked out of another lakeside area already. They know his name.  As a community we ALL need to be on high alert until he’s caught.  Pray he gets caught right away or whoever has done this crime. As a community, not just Chapala Haciendas but lakeside community, we ALL need to be vigilant right now. Talk to your neighbors, be smart.

Please leave lights on outside at night.   If you can get some shade screen to put in front of fencing, least expensive and quickest way to keep your house from being seen from the street if it’s visible and DO consider a guard dog outside.  Some people do not want dogs or guard dogs but you need a warning.   I highly recommend a Rottweiler, they’re very loving and extremely protective of their families.  

Go around your properties and if you can figure out how to get into your house, secure it there.

Trailrunner wrote:Pretty insensitive, Pete. This is not about you or your money.

Sorry. That wasn't my intent. And I am truly sorry this happened. I guess I am just afraid to have much money at any one time. I have had two houses build for me in the last 15 years. And again, I never took large amounts of funds out to pay my contractor. Rather I had him open up a bank account in the same bank as I and I would make money transfers as needed.

Truly there are ways to never need to carry much money. I am just hoping that we can minimize this type of crime by any means necessary. One way to do so, is to not have much money around. The last time I was broken into, they got my cheap flip phone and $900 pesos. That was in the fall of 2009.

I now have an armed security guard on the property any time I or my gardener or maid is not there and on the property in the evenings and nights when I am there.

Maybe I am paranoid, but following this and other safety rules and increasing the security better at my house I feel safe. I am hoping others will also increase their security and minimize this type of tragedy by following some of the suggestions made here on this forum

Again my intent was not to be insensitive but to make suggestions on how to never let this tragedy happen again. Sorry if my intentions were misunderstood.

Yo Pete, just a thought here. If the really bad guys think you have lots of money and stuff in your high on the hill house, and know that seeing the security guard means no one is home, uh, might that be seen as a green light? Then the bad guys would only need to offer him some friendly advise. Not being paranoid mind you but I haven't much else to do.

The primary security guard or his brother is there in the evening on duty whether I am there or up north. They and I are armed. And a smart thief will choose an easier house to rob than mine.

Besides if I had a lot of money around, I really wouldn't drive around in my very dented 2013 Honda CRV. Rather I would be driving a much newer car like a BMW, Mercedes, Porsche, you name it.

A lot of people know a lot more about you than just the car you drive.
False Security!

slainte39 wrote:A lot of people know a lot more about you than just the car you drive.
False Security!

You betcha. Starting with anyone who cleans the house, gardens or comes around to fix things. A friend of mine had a real treasure of a maid who had keys. However, the maid had a gangbanger son who copied the key. Need I go into the details of how she was cleaned out of all valuables while the police heard the momma insist her son was an "angel"?

slainte39 wrote:A lot of people know a lot more about you than just the car you drive.
False Security!

Quite true. For example, everyone reading this forum now knows that gobluejohn will be in Las Vegas sometime soon. Thieves read social media too.

not going to vegas soon, as IGOT beaten very badly, going to be home bound for a long time

ltollefs wrote:

slainte39 wrote:A lot of people know a lot more about you than just the car you drive.
False Security!

Quite true. For example, everyone reading this forum now knows that gobluejohn will be in Las Vegas sometime soon. Thieves read social media too.

They know who "gobluejohn" is and where he lives (other than CH2) from reading this website?

Give him a break you guys. It was awful what happened to him. It was kind of him to give everyone a heads up.

At least in the Fracc we have a security guy we can call who is bilingual and there are things that can be done to prevent this from happening to someone else.

One of the best deterrents, according to criminals, is a good neighborhood watch group. Sometimes we all, as a community, get too comfortable when nothing is going on. We let our guard down and then boom, it happens somewhere and we get on the look out for one another. Part of the stress relief for me during this, and nothing happened to me but it stresses me OUT that it happens around me, is going around and talking to neighbors and gardeners, workers and warn them. Our neighborhood has done a pretty good job all around getting the word out. We have some great neighbors that a criminal would not want to mess around with and they’re being proactive to protect themselves. I have not driven around for a couple of years in my own neighborhood! There some beefy secure houses around. This area has exploded in growth over the past 2 years! We have a LOT of new construction and a lot of people moving in. Realtors tell me they’re sending buyers here because there just isn’t anywhere else for new people to go! So welcome to the neighborhood! Get with the program, hang your hat and stay a while! Nice people coming in!

Pete, I had to read your post several time. You actually keep on armed guard on property at night when you are home!
Guess this area is really safe......