- Sgt. Friday, Smith and newly married Sgt. Austin investigate a string of robberies taking place when people are on vacation. They track some of the property and learn of a moving van that appears at the empty houses.
- Synopsis - The Big Pair Aired 9-16-54 Friday, Smith are working the day-watch out of Burglary Detail, the boss is Captain Barnard; homes had recently been broken into, families had been stripped of their furniture. The officers were discussing a gift to get soon to be married Sgt. Jim Austin; a ten-year-old girl enters the squad room reporting everything was stolen from their home, her grandfather is at home, he sent her to report the theft. Ruthie Ann Snyder is her name, Grandpa is John Snyder. Ruthie tells Friday, Smith they were away and when they came home on the train, everything in the house was gone. They were coming back from Indiana, they took a taxi from the train station to their home. Ruth Ann leads the officers into the home, Grandpa Snyder is sitting on a crate in the living room, leaning on his cane. Grandma Snyder had lived there, but had passed away three weeks ago. Ruth Ann and her Grandfather took the body back to Indiana for burial; they were returning from the funeral.
Friday, Smith look around at the empty rooms of the house, they view the broken glass window in the kitchen; Ruthie tells them they will sleep on cots and have to eat out due to no stove. Friday said he contacted the Salvation Army for the Snyders. Ruthie says Mrs. Merton down at the pet bird store knew they would be gone, nobody else in the neighborhood. A discussion with neighbors identified a moving van removing furniture from the house while the Snyder's were gone. Mrs. Merton noticed two men loading the Snyder's furniture into a moving van. Agnes Merton did talk to the men moving the Snyder's belongings. They did not know anything about them returning from Indiana; she says Ruthie would have said something if they were moving. The description of the truck, color and lettering were a little bit for the police to go on, but not much; no plate number.
Back at the office, reports had come in on two more burglaries, Friday, Smith drove out to interview the victims. Circumstances and the method of operation match identically with the Snyder case. Both families went on vacation and neglected to notify any neighbors. Both allowed newspapers to collect on their doorsteps and a window was broken for entry. The homes were stripped of their contents, while the owners were away on vacation. Sgt. Jim Austin suggests some ideas to warn homeowners of moving vans at neighbors' houses. Jim takes a call of another burglary where a home's contents had been cleaned out. Agnes Merton stops by with the license number of the van she saw again today. A run of the plate number yielded a name of a reputable company, a second hand furniture store named Ben's Used Furniture Store. Mr. Snyder, Ruth accompanied Friday, Smith to Ben's to look at the buy book; three dozen pieces were shown purchased from a house address the same as Snyder's. Ben Winet explained it was a man and a woman saying they were leaving for Boston, wanting to sell their possessions before going East. Snyder's recognize their furniture in the store, Ben says they sure stuck me. Winet arranged to have all Snyder's furniture brought back their home. Friday, Smith secured the canceled check from Winet's bank, plus a description of the couple from the bank employee. During the next two weeks, six other second-hand furniture stores had been victims of stolen items. The couple used a different name on each occasion when cashing their checks.
A month has gone by without any luck catching the thieves. Friday proposes a decoy with several houses baited as potential houses; papers stacked up outside, drapes drawn, etc. Smith agrees. Division commanders are alerted and forty homes were spotted as decoys throughout the city. Two more homes were broken into, following the decoy set-up, no decoy home was robbed; same MO of breaking a window, entering and removing all household items.
A call comes, Friday says it is one of the decoy houses, they got a bite. Together with Officer Carson, Sgt. Angus, Friday, Smith travel to the decoy house just tapped; an unidentified couple had been seen forcing entry through the back door. A police-officer's wife living next door called in the report. The Officer's park their car down from the decoy house, observing a woman coming out of the house, looking about, re-entering the house, a man parks his car in front, looks around and enters. Friday calls in the plate number with the vehicle description. The car is identified belonging to a Kenneth Dunbar, while a moving van backs to the curb of the house front.
Officer Carson, Sgt. Angus cover the back of the house, Friday, Smith head to the front with the two men in the van already in the house. Entering, Jean Dunbar asks what the men want, Friday identifies his partner and himself, Jeans yells to Ken it is the cops, Dunbar punches Smith, clips him before being detained, Angus holds the woman, as she runs off her mouth at Ken.
The suspects were tried, convicted of burglary in the second degree, fifteen counts. Ken Dunbar is now serving his term in the State Penitentiary, San Quentin, CA. Jean Dunbar is now serving her term at the State Institution for Women, Corona, CA.
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