• iconNews
  • videos
  • entertainment
  • Home
  • News
    • UK News
    • US News
    • Australia
    • Ireland
    • World News
    • Weird News
    • Viral News
    • Sport
    • Technology
    • Science
    • True Crime
    • Travel
  • Entertainment
    • Celebrity
    • TV & Film
    • Netflix
    • Music
    • Gaming
    • TikTok
  • LAD Originals
    • Say Maaate to a Mate
    • Daily Ladness
    • Lad Files
    • UOKM8?
    • FreeToBe
    • Extinct
    • Citizen Reef
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • UNILAD
  • SPORTbible
  • GAMINGbible
  • Tyla
  • UNILAD Tech
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
Threads
Snapchat
TikTok
YouTube

LAD Entertainment

YouTube

LAD Stories

Submit Your Content
Ex-burglar reveals her checklist for choosing which houses to steal from

Home> Community

Published 21:04 7 Aug 2024 GMT+1

Ex-burglar reveals her checklist for choosing which houses to steal from

TikToker Jen Jen Gomez had previously spent 10 years in prison for theft

Brenna Cooper

Brenna Cooper

A former burglar has shared the 'mental checklist' she used when it came to targeting homes.

US-based TikToker Jen Jen Gomez had spent 10 years in prison for her criminal activity, however, she has since turned her life around and now shares tips and advice on how to protect your home on social media as well as deterring potential thieves from a life of crime.

In a recently resurfaced post, Jen revealed her personal checklist to ensure a house she was robbing was 'profitable'.

"I was a cat burglar," Jen began. "[And] I started to have a mental checklist, there was things that I would have on me and things that I would look for in the homes that I was going to burgle."

Advert

A reformed burglar has shared regularly shares advice on how to protect your home. (Getty Stock Images)
A reformed burglar has shared regularly shares advice on how to protect your home. (Getty Stock Images)

Weather

The first thing I would do is check the weather," she began.

Explaining why weather was so important, Jen explained that a sunny day would usually indicate that more people would be outside enjoying the pleasant weather, while rain was optimal for breaking and entering.

Describing wet weather as the 'best of the best' for burglars, she said: "In that type of weather condition, people are not only not outside, but they also aren’t going to chase you.

Advert

"They’re not going to come outside just to be nosy because they think something looks weird and get all wet."

Time

The time of day in which Jen would target a home was also important as she wanted to minimise her risk of encountering anyone in the house.

"The reason I was waking up at 5.00am, 5.30am, to start getting things in order is because most people go to work between 7.00am and 4.00pm," Jen explained.

She then went on to add that 8am to 11am and 1.30pm and 3pm were her 'prime times' for robberies.

Advert

Jen's ideal target would be wealthy looking homes. (Getty Stock Images)
Jen's ideal target would be wealthy looking homes. (Getty Stock Images)

Security System

Now you'd imagine the visible presence of alarms would be something which would deter criminals from your property, however for Jen, it was a sign that something of value was inside.

"I felt like people that have alarms will likely have something that they want to protect," she said.

So if you have alarms, make sure they're not super obvious ones.

Escape route

A more obvious thing Jen would look for during her scouting process was easy escape routes such as low windows.

Advert

"What I needed to ensure was that there was a window somewhere low enough where I could use tools that I had... [to] step over into without getting hurt and then be able to get back out." she said.

Pets

A lot of homeowners may think the presence of a dog in their house would scare off a criminal, but for Jen the presence of - particularly cats - would tell her an alarm isn't in use at the home.

"I knew that if [..] there was an animal inside that most likely the animal was walking around freely," she said.

"Now the reason that it was important to have an animal walking around is because then I knew that the motion sensor for the alarm systems were likely off.

Advert

"Most people that have money, nice homes and nice things in their homes do not keep their animals locked up."


Location

As well as wearing the wrong size of shoe, tying her hair up and wearing scrubs during a burglary, Jen would target homes with with places to hide of escape routes.

"I want to make sure there's a way I can get in and out easily and I don't wanna be trapped in the neighbourhood."

Decretive landscaping and shrubbery would also be something Jen would look out for as it provided her with cover for her activities.

Featured Image Credit: Getty Stock Images

Topics: Community, TikTok, Crime

Brenna Cooper
Brenna Cooper

Brenna Cooper is a journalist at LADbible. She graduated from the University of Sheffield with a degree in History, followed by an NCTJ accredited masters in Journalism. She began her career as a freelance writer for Digital Spy, where she wrote about all things TV, film and showbiz. Her favourite topics to cover are music, travel and any bizarre pop culture.

X

@_brencoco

Advert

Advert

Advert

  • Daughter of former secret service agent shares all common daily acts he told her never to do to keep safe
  • Daughter of former secret service agent shares ‘most important’ piece of safety advice he gave her
  • Woman, 24, who plans to retire by 40 reveals strict rules she lives by that allow her to save an eye-watering £100,000
  • Mother who lives with her new husband and ex to save money reveals how she makes bizarre situation work

Choose your content:

2 hours ago
22 hours ago
a day ago
  • 2 hours ago

    People still baffled by disturbing 'demon dog' photo that had major impact on man's life

    Joe Martinez and his wife Patty couldn't believe their eyes when they saw the photo of themselves at the anniversary bash

    Community
  • 22 hours ago

    Uber driver shares true reality of how much money he makes in one week

    Rob worked over 60 hours on the app around Yorkshire

    Community
  • 22 hours ago

    Former cruise ship musician reveals dark side of the job most people don't know about

    Jeff was living in his own 'Groundhog Day' in his 20s

    Community
  • a day ago

    Daughter of former secret service agent shares ‘most important’ piece of safety advice he gave her

    Ashley has shared tips from a man who made his living protecting important people

    Community