Grant Park burglars captured in surveillance videos

A lot of folks use YouTube to kill time at work — checking out silly teen pranks or watching music videos.

But at least two Atlanta families hope the world’s most popular video-sharing Web site helps catch the thieves who broke into their in-town homes. Monday morning, a robbery crew broke into at least two homes — one in east Atlanta, the other in Grant Park — and made off with expensive electronics.

Both times, the crew was caught on tape by surveillance cameras installed to help cut down on burglaries.

In the first case, a group of four men — one with a gun — broke into Larry Riley’s home near East Lake Golf Club in east Atlanta. They are seen in clear, color video walking out the door with a $2,000, 50-inch plasma TV.

The second robbery was about 30 minutes later. “Clearly they went straight from our place to their’s,” Riley said.

What appeared to be the same crew broke into Alyssa and Dan Kopp’s home in Grant Park. They stole the couple’s flat-screen TV, digital camera and a laptop computer.

From several camera angles, the video shows what appears to be three men casing the house about 10 a.m. Monday. The fourth was likely driving the get-away car, a light-green Nissan Pathfinder. After about two minutes, they ram the back door, steal the items and speed off. The Kopps estimate the stolen goods are worth between $3,000 and $4,000.

Riley and the Kopps uploaded their videos to YouTube for all the world to see. The outraged homeowners don’t know each other.

“I figured I couldn’t stop it from happening, but I could at least get their faces on camera,” said Dan Kopp, 34, who works as a computer engineer. His wife, Alyssa Kopp, 31, works for a video production company.

The Kopps moved into their craftsman-style home on Broyles Street in August. After hearing of a rash of break-ins last winter, they equipped their home with four surveillance cameras they installed at a cost of about $7,500. The cameras record what happens at the home 24 hours a day.

Atlanta police spokesman Ron Campbell said he was not aware of these specific robberies but praised homeowners for using video to help investigators. No arrests had been made in either case Tuesday evening.

Dan Kopp and Riley plan to install more cameras this week.

Thieves should note “that people are taking matters into their own hands,” Alyssa Kopp said. “I think we’ll get these guys.”