Man charged in panty raids at real estate open houses
Women's underwear taken from at least three showings
Feb. 23, 2010 | 0 comments
A Hales Corners man has been charged with three misdemeanor counts of theft after police said he attended real estate open houses in the Milwaukee area and stole women's underwear from the homes. He is expected to appear in court Feb. 25.
According to the Wauwatosa police:
Robert Remiker, 58, attended open houses in the 2300 block of North 62nd Street in Wauwatosa, as well as in Greenfield and Franklin. Realtors and other visitors to the Wauwatosa open house said they saw Remiker opening drawers and taking items. When he was stopped by police officers, they found plastic bags containing eight pairs of underwear and printouts of Internet listings for area open houses.
Remiker told officers he was taking the items because he missed his ex-wife. He said he had about 50 more pairs at the home he lived in with his parents.
Scott Busch, vice president of operations with the Wauwatosa-based Greater Milwaukee Association of Realtors, said thefts during home showings are a rarity, especially those as blatant as these.
"He was relentlessly visiting open houses and calling Realtors asking for private showings," he said.
When thefts do occur from open houses, criminals typically seek out higher-priced items like jewelry or electronics, Busch said. A few years back, people were taking prescription drugs from medicine cabinets.
As a result, Realtors encourage their clients to secure valuables or remove them from the home during showings.
As soon as association officials got wind of the thefts Feb. 6, an alert was issued to the group's 3,600 members. That weekend, numerous real estate agents reported seeing him at their showings.
"This guy was actually seen rummaging around in people's drawers," Busch said.
Remiker's behavior led Donna Best of Shorewest Realty to take a hiatus from holding open houses.
He had come to three of her showings in Wauwatosa and just across the border in Milwaukee, each in a different price range. He said his daughter was in the market for a home and he was helping her out since she was too busy to look at them herself.
"Something with his story didn't seem right," she said. "I just felt very uneasy."
Later, she learned Remiker had been signing the open house logs with a fake name.
Back in early January, Best tried to write down his license plate number and gave it to her manager. Soon a Waukesha agent was reporting similar activity. Some considered Remiker's actions fairly harmless, but Best was disturbed when one of her clients called and said items were missing from her lingerie drawer.
When police checked Remiker's criminal history, they found he had been arrested in the town of Brookfield in 2004 for disorderly conduct and trespassing for peeping into a neighbor's bathroom by attaching a mirror to a stick and putting it near a window.
E-mail Newsletter
Your link to the biggest stories in the suburbs delivered Thursday mornings.
Enter your e-mail address above and click "Sign Up Now!" to begin receiving your e-mail newsletter
Get the Newsletter!
More from News and Features
- Wauwatosa Meetings: Feb. 9-16
- Salvation Army beats its Red Kettle fundraising goal
- A few business wishes for 2012
- Gee to head Forest Exploration Center
- Message sent: Businesses seek sign code change
- Video of vehicle break-ins leads to arrest
- Wauwatosa panel opposes power lines over natural spaces
- City, district look to improve traffic safety near schools
- Donegan apologizes for campaign literature error
- Streamlined review boards to have first meetings
0 COMMENTS