Atlanta senior living resident loses $13K life savings in apartment burglary
Burglar targets closet safe while resident sees doctor
Sylvan Hills Senior Apartments resident Angela Stephens returned home from a doctor's appointment to find her closet lock unscrewed and her safe missing. The stolen safe contained $13,000 in savings intended for a new two-bedroom apartment. Management later informed her that the hallway camera was not functioning.
ATLANTA - An Atlanta woman says years of savings vanished in less than two hours after someone broke into her apartment and stole a safe containing $13,000.
What we know:
Angela Stephens, who has lived at Sylvan Hills Senior Apartments in southwest Atlanta for three years, was saving the money to move into a two-bedroom apartment with her son, who serves as her caregiver. Now, her life savings are gone, and she says she no longer feels safe in her own home.
What we don't know:
FOX 5 reached out to the apartment complex management for comment and is waiting to hear back.
What they're saying:
Stephens described her routine for securing her home and the moment she walked in to discover the theft.
"I have a lock on my closet anytime I leave, especially when I file a maintenance report, I make sure my lock is locked," Stephens said.
Stephens said when she got home from a doctor's appointment last week, she noticed something was off.
"I went in I said what’s box on the floor, box of juice and I looked up and all I could do was start crying, just crying my safe was gone... they had taken lock off, unscrewed it off."
$13K stolen from safe in senior citizen's apartment
Atlanta Police are investigating the theft of a safe containing $13,000 in life savings from a senior facility resident's apartment. The victim, Angela Stephens, returned from a doctor appointment to find her closet lock broken and the safe gone, while a nearby hallway security camera failed to record the crime. You can help Ms. Stephens by supporting her at the following link: https://gofund.me/8cd8d82e1
When she asked apartment management about reviewing hallway footage, they told her the cameras are not working.
The loss of her savings has put her plans for her family on hold and left her feeling shaken in her own residence.
"I had been saving the money for a long time for a new apartment and getting ready to move my son is my caregiver now and I wanted a 2-bedroom apartment. That’s what I was getting ready to do," Stephens said. "I feel violated. I feel like someone has stolen my sense of security. I don’t like being here by myself and I don’t like leaving my apartment when there's no one here."
What you can do:
Stephens has set up a GoFundMe account.
The Source: The information in this story was gathered from Angela Stephens, who spoke with FOX 5 about the burglary and her missing savings, as well as apartment complex management.