To catch a thief

It's been an eventful past couple of days. My mom's home was broken into Wednesday afternoon while she was out for about an hour and 45 minutes. Front door broken into in broad daylight in a gated community where the homes are 8 feet apart. We're thinking it was not a random choice of house as hers is one of the few homes (manufactured homes) where the front door is on the front side of the house, right by the street and where it would be pretty obvious to break into - why not choose one of the other 40 homes with side doors set back and not so visible?  Especially since this is a retirement community and lots of people are home all the time.

All her jewelry (and some nice stuff, of course) and $800 cash out of a locked (key was in a different place, so it was picked) safe. A talk with neighbors discovered one of them seeing a guy walking by about 4pm that didn't look like he belonged - tall guy about 6ft, long hair, hoodie and basketball shorts.  Other than the door, nothing else in her home was damaged at all. Seemed to know exactly what he was looking for - though he didn't find her 3 gold coins (at current gold rates of $1750 or so each!)

Really only one piece of jewelry had sentimental value, the rest was worth some money (gold, diamonds, etc) but she was most upset about the pendant my dad had given her. It is very unusual piece and would be easily identified. Yesterday she and DD went to some nearby pawn shops to let them know to watch for the stuff. Today DD was just looking on craigslist and ebay to see if anyone was trying to sell any jewelry that matched hers. She found a diamond tennis bracelet that was for sale from our town and from the 3 pictures looked exactly like her bracelet. DH called the guy and he and DS met up with him at a store parking lot.  My mom has a tiny wrist so the bracelet had been sized for her and was small.  They also wanted to see if this guy matched the description of who the neighbor saw.  The guy shows up in a expensive BMW, but he had a full beard. He just seemed a bit sketchy to my guys, but of course they'd be suspicious no matter what I guess.  The bracelet was small sized and the clasp was just like my mom described.

DS got his car license plate number and the guy had given his full name when he introduced himself. Not sure if DH did the right thing or not but he said "well, to tell you the truth - my MIL was robbed, etc...and we just wanted to see the bracelet and see if you matched the description". They guy was like "oh man, really? that's not cool".  As they were pulling out of the parking lot the guy texts my DH and says he just called his lawyer (ya right - you are going to get a hold of your lawyer at 5pm on a Friday?) and he was going to sue for harassment!

DH talked to my mom on the phone and told her to ask the neighbor if the guy had a beard, maybe she just forgot to mention it...sure enough he did! We're pretty sure it's her bracelet and not sure about the long hair description - could have had a wig on or cut his hair in last 2 days. She gave all the info to the police, so not sure if anything will come of it, but will be interesting if it does.  Mom had a security system installed today, so that brings her a bit of piece of mind for her safety.

UPDATE: DH had the guys full name (he gave it when they met at the parking lot) and found him on Facebook - my mom showed that to her 2 neighbors that saw the guy walking down their street and they said that is the guy! C'mom cops - go get him! DH is so mad right now because he called the cops right after meeting with the guy and they wouldn't come.