Thieves stay busy behind the gates of Sea Pines, other Hilton Head communities

Living behind gates doesn’t mean living without theft.

From a broken and missing motion detection system to missing silver, Beaufort County Sheriff’s deputies investigated more than a dozen incidents that happened in Hilton Head gated communities between Nov. 20 and Nov. 30.

Here’s some of what happened in those communities, according to reports.

Sea Pines

A man was walking his dog on his private dock near his Seaside Sparrow home on Nov. 24 when he noticed a $1,000 sensor on a motion detection system was broken from the mount and missing.

He saw footprints from the beach leading up to his dock toward his home that stopped at the motion sensor. The man said he had security cameras, but was unable to view the footage.

The deputy found additional footprints that all appeared to be walking toward the man’s house, but was unable to locate where they started.

The man later noticed he was also missing two patio chairs and two ottomans.

Palmetto Dunes

A woman reported her Oneida Sterling Silverware set, valued at $2,148, was stolen from a dining room chest between March 2016 and Nov. 18, 2017. She reported it to Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office on Nov. 21.

She said the only people in her South Shore Drive home were exterminators and heating and air conditioning companies, and that she or her husband were present when they were working.

When a deputy arrived, Palmetto Dunes security had already collected information. The woman was told because of the long period of time since she had last seen the silverware, there was little chance of finding who took it.

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On Nov. 27, a deputy responded to a report of stolen TVs from an apartment on Queens Folly Road.

A contractor arrived to a unit that was being redone, and found the front door was “wide open” with no signs of forced entry.

The owner of the apartment was on the phone with the contractor, and said one Samsung TV and one Sony TV were stolen.

She said Palmetto Dunes security told her someone had accessed her apartment on Nov. 25 using the “vendor code” on the keypad. However, she said no contractors were working that day.

Palmetto Dunes security said they would review video surveillance at the gate to try to locate any one coming or going.

Hilton Head Plantation

A woman called the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office on Nov. 21 because she thought her housekeeper stole $14 from her wallet that was in her handbag in the kitchen of her Birdsong Way home.

She said she had counted her money prior to the housekeeper arriving, and she had $52. After the housekeeper left, she found only $38. Nothing else was missing from her home.

The woman was told there was not enough evidence for the sheriff’s office to consider the housekeeper a suspect.

This story was originally published December 8, 2017 at 1:45 PM with the headline "Thieves stay busy behind the gates of Sea Pines, other Hilton Head communities."