Stealing baby strollers? That's what thieves are doing in one Seattle neighborhood

SEATTLE -- Several parents in the Wallingford neighborhood say strollers have been stolen from their front porches.

Jordan Schwartz and his son spend a lot of time hanging out on their porch. So it bothers him that a total stranger came here in the middle of the night.

“It's unnerving to think we were inside asleep and someone came onto our front porch, went through our things and they stole something. “

It was a BOB stroller that was taken. Schwartz never thought it was something a thief would want.

“I should have,” he admits. “They’re $400, so it's as expensive as a bike. And I certainly wouldn't have left my bike on my porch not locked up.”

According to Wallyhood, the neighborhood blog for Wallingford, Schwartz isn’t the only one who’s lost an expensive stroller recently.

“Within a week, we just had a string of reports of them being stolen.”

“There’s just no limit on what people take anymore,” says Myrle Carner, with Crime Stoppers of Puget Sound.

Carner says thieves will take bicycles or any other items that are left on porches, in plain view.

“They may trade it, take it to pawn shops, there's all kinds of ways to make a little money for these guys and gals. So don't put the temptation out there.”

“You have to remember, it's not just a little neighborhood,” says Rebecca Dale, who lives nearby one of the recent thefts. “There’s the rest of Seattle really close by.”

She says she keeps her stroller locked in her garage, because she’s learned that crime can happen anywhere.

“People have rummaged through our cars, so you have to be really sure you lock everything and bring it in and don't leave it in view if possible.”

Schwartz’s son is getting older, so he’s decided not to replace his stroller. But he says that’s not the only way this theft has changed things for his family.

“It’s not the stroller that I miss. It's the fact I don't feel comfortable and safe in my home with my own neighbors in the same way. And I guess that's the part that hurts the most.”

Detectives say if you can’t put your stroller out of view, you should buy a secure cable or lock so a thief can’t just grab it and go.