200 break-ins: Teens arrested in larcenies from cars
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Police say Christopher Ballard, Kristie Ryder, and an unidentified 17-year-old broke into more than 200 cars.PHOTO ALBEMARLE POLICE
For weeks, people around the county have awakened to find their cars have been broken into. But on January 23, a complaint that people were going through cars in the Old Trail neighborhood led to the arrest of three teens who police say have broken into more than 200 vehicles.
Christopher Ballard, 18, is charged with five counts of grand larceny; Kristie Ryder, 19, is charged with two counts of grand larceny, and an unidentified 17-year-old faces eight counts of grand larceny, which is a felony that carries up to 20 years in prison.
The rash of car break-in reports has been coming in since November, says Albemarle police Sergeant Darrell Byers. Most recently, seven vehicles in Mill Creek were reported hit January 16, over 20 off East Rio on January 17, and more than 20 reported on January 20 in the Georgetown Green and Pantops areas. Most of the vehicles were unlocked, says an investigator.
Police were already looking for the alleged perps January 23 when the call came in from Old Trail in Crozet. The suspects “attempted to leave the area at a high rate of speed,” says Byers.
The alleged getaway vehicle, a Honda Pilot, was stopped on Interstate 64. The first clue that the occupants may have been involved in the thefts was the number of GPS devices spotted inside the car. Police found thousands of dollars worth of purloined property, including golf clubs, a handgun, and small electronics, says Byers.
The arrests turned up swords and antique guns.PHOTO BY LISA PROVENCE
From the suspects’ homes, investigators have recovered antique guns and samurai swords that were reported missing from a burglary. On a table at Albemarle police headquarters, more around 99 items were laid out, including cameras, sunglasses, flashlights, laptops, cellphones, and a wallet full of $20s. Police estimate the value of the recovered merch at roughly $18,000.
Last May, Ballard was arrested for breaking and entering, a felony, and convicted of a misdemeanor charge of entering property with intent to damage. According to court records, he was sentenced in June to 12 months in jail, with 10 suspended.
Ballard and Ryder are scheduled to appear in court March 3. Police say the investigation continues, and more charges are possible. Anyone with information about these incidents or who is a victim of a car break-in should contact Detective Belew at 434-296-5807.
Updated 5:15pm with the revised police number of more than 200 car break-ins.
Updated 9:45am January 25 with police contact info.
Is Ballard to be held in custody until March 3 or released?
These kids are lucky to be alive. Period.
This Ballard kid must have an extremely short learning curve. Looks like his goal is to be a career criminal. No more probably. Lock him up and keep he and his thug buddies away from those of us who choose to work for a living.
100 crimes and only 20 counts charged? Is the Albemarle County Commonwealths Attorney now giving out volume discounts? Or will more ges be forthcoming? I’d prefer to see each of them charged to the fullest extent, overkill notwithstanding. When they’re facing a few hundred years each they’ll probably be more inclined to plead to 10 or 20 years and save the taxpayers the cost of a trial. Plus the 80 victims who’s loss isn’t worth the County’s time will feel like they had their day in court as well.
Hey, ****, They only got busted yesterday. Give the prosecutors a little time to prepare some more charges. I’m pretty impressed that they already face 20.
makes you wonder why there were swords and antique guns in someones car.
I had over $1500 worth of things stolen from my garage and the police didn’t even bother to come to the house, they just took a report over the phone. Either our police are understaffed or lazy. Does anyone know? Are we understaffed due to budgets or under served due to sloth?
Who do we call at the county to see if this was the piece of garbage who broke into our car and stole my wife’s ipod and left it in shambles? I’m sure that they left their prints all over our car. I’m willing to press charges.
My car was broken in to about two weeks ago. Whoever did it was obviously in a hurry as they threw almost everything in my glove box and storage between the seats all over the place. They stole my IPod adapter, but obviously weren’t interested in my music as they left the CD’s. They were also kind enough to leave my extendable ice scraper and umbrella. It really infuriates me that I work for a living in order to buy the things I want and others feel entitled to just take things that belong to others. I hope they have many more charges against them!!!
These jokers stole a portable DVD player from my car that my 3 year old watches on long trips. I’m glad I didn’t catch them stealing it because I believe in vigilante justice.
Did they break into houses or just cars, I wonder? The guns mentioned were said to have come from a “burglary.”
I have actually heard people who have done this sort of thing justify it by saying, ‘well, they have insurance. Never mind deductibles, and the fact that a lot of people don’t have comprehensive to cover the damage and theft anyway.
Plus, what happened to the fact that it’s just WRONG???
I would not be surprised if this same group was responsible for the break-ins that occurred last year as well in Mill Creek. I think it was the spring/summer time.
Twenty charges is plenty. They could get 400 years from those 20 alone. It’s kind of unnecessary to throw more on them.
Whats up with these children? Who raised them? What happened during their upbringing? I just wonder.
@ cvllelaw
I certainly don’t know law but the article says “UP TO 20 years in prison”. How many times has a judge in this area given someone the maximum sentence, especially given the suspects ages? Does the judge have the choice of having them serve the sentences (assuming they’re found guilty) consecutively or concurrently? Judges around here have let child abusers and child porn jerks off easy with just a couple of years. These people will probably get “time served” or probation or some such junk.
I forgot to make my point…duh. These kids obviously had/have no regard for the property of others so I say throw everything you can at them because the judge is most likely not going to sentence them the way they deserve to be sentenced. If someone stole something once or twice I would say they might be able to be “saved”. These kids have stolen how many times? I say they are leeches of society so throw it at them as hard as you can !
Each charge needs to be proven in court, unless people don’t have a problem with the police ascribing each and every break-in in the county to these two alleged perpetrators. I assure you the police would love to get all those crimes off their sheets.
If the prosecutors spend all their time with one or two perpetrators, that’s time not spent on other perpetrators. Although the police may believe and say that these two are responsible for 200 break ins, it behooves everyone to prosecute them for those crimes that are easily proven.
If they can get 20 years in prison total for these young adults, I think people’s precious DVD players and iPod adapters will be safe for the duration.
Mrs T, cop shoppes have for the past two or three decades taken so many cops out of patrol and placed them in so many specialized units, there’s very few left to work in the patrol sector. Ask any patrol cop, they will tell you the same thing. Most of these specialized units are what the cops call “gravy train” jobs. There’s a long list of cops just waiting to be accepted into one of them because most of them involve daylight hours and weekends off.
This is why when you read a story like this, it’s always about a citizen who has spotted the criminals and solved the case for the cop shoppes.
GSOE: According to the Daily Progress this morning, the police had the suspects under surveillance when they were busted.
To the Investigator Mark Belew- for the lost GPS, just power them up and hit “home”- those GPS might find their own way back to their owners
I hope that is true, U-Hoo. I would hate to think they were just going to sit around forever and take reports by phone every time a car was broken into.
I wonder if any of this stuff ended up on eBaY. The “sellers” aren’t going to have the merchandise to ship at auction’s end now that the cop shoppe has it all! :)
I hate to be the “buzz killer”, but we had 2 young guys in our neighborhood last winter take 5 cars from our street for a joy ride over a 2 hr time period and crashed them all into snowbanks. (All were unlocked, all left the keys in the car and one left a handgun under the front seat)…. They are now both in the Middle River Jail awaiting sentencing. (But I look at it as its kind of like leaving a box of matches on your coffee table and hoping your 3 year old won’t pick them up)… Facts show, if you lock your vehicles and don’t leave anything of value in them, usually you don’t have any problems. I say this because state and local offices have had their services severly slashed due to state budget demands and the manpower and moral is down. I would much rather see that time spent by our law enforcement offices and court system investigating and prosecuting serious cases such as murders, rapes and kidnappings than trying to get justice for something that is really our responsibility. You cannot change a criminals mind, but you can make sure you take action to not make yourself a victim of their stupidity.
Valley Tater - I don’t think you’re a “buzz killer” at all…just a voice of reason. Why would anyone in this day and age leave their car unlocked, keys in it and full of valuables? Taking a little responsibility for yourself could go a long way.
Joyce, a lot of people would rather have a kid simply open the car door and enter their car, rather than breaking the window to do so. And another large group of residents still think they are living in safe communities in 1960, where you didn’t have to lock your doors in cars or even your home.
People should be angry about what these youths did. But why shouldn’t they after all? We let Wall Street rob not only investors, but people working on main street, and then let them keep their bonuses.
Start having perp walks for all the banksters who destroyed Wall Street, and you might see this sort of behaviour dwindling a bit. These days, I feel stupid for living an hoest life, returning goods I find on the street, that sort of thing.
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Charge the parents as well for what the children did specially the 17 year old.
Why was my comment deleted? All I stated were facts. These 2 look like they have just crawled out of dumpsters following a 2 week crystal meth binge. And it’s disgusting. Dispose of them promptly.
funniest thing is they were using Moms/ Honda Pilot as a getaway car! did it have a “baby on board” decal too?
funniest thing is they were using Mom’s Honda Pilot as a getaway car! did it have a “baby on board” decal too?
man chris chris take a bath
it isnt the parents fault AJ. dont blame anyone but the kids
Ralf, you kinda do have to put fault on the parents when one of the kids is 17, still a legal minor. I know people nowadays like to abdicate responsibility but there really is something to be said about good parenting. Kids who come from good parenting don’t wind up facing multiple grand larceny charges by the time they’re 17, 18, 19 years old. Bottom line.
It’s become politically incorrect to look at the parents when kids turn out like crap, but so be it. It *absolutely* falls back on the parents when kids turn out like c r a p. (Hook censorship alert!) (And this is coming from somebody whose brother and teenage half sister both have turned out as c r a p, with major issues. Both had bad “parenting,” if you even want to call it that.) You blame the kids AND the parents.
boooo! - Disagree with you on this completely. I have four siblings, one brother, two sisters. First four (myself included) turned out to be law abiding, hard working citizens….my youngest sibiling (however) is a meth addict, ex-dealer, and other crimes that she has committed in the last 10 years. Nothing to do with bad parenting here. SHE made the wrong decisions. My parents armed her with everything from the knowledge of right and wrong to a complete boat ride for education beyond high school which she promptly flunked out of both the private college then the local community college. She was doing drugs LONG before she reached the age of 18. HER choice, not my parents. The rest of us managed to stay pretty much drug free for our teen years and beyond. So good parenting can only do so much with a child if the child is set to self distruct on their own, by their own doing.
@Joyce
Well, something went wrong with your youngest sib. The fact that it was the youngest is pretty telling. That’s a pattern I keep seeing - the oldest siblings turn out okay, but the youngest one is the problem. It’s usually because the parents did something different with them, were more leniant, gave them more, and babied them more. The oldest ones were the first kids in the bunch and as such had the stricter upbringing as the parents were experimentating with “how to parent.” By the time they get to the last of the bunch (to paraphrase a comedian, can’t remember who said this) “they pretty much let them juggle knives.” ;D
There’s also other factors at play when it comes to an individual child’s mental capacity and development, and many times it’s something beyond the parents, no doubt. So I’m not saying it’s always, 100% the parents fault too. I know it always isn’t……but in many cases it is. And there can be no question about this. We’ve all seen the type of screwball “adults” that are out there in the world. Adults that are drug and alcohol addled, can’t hold down a job, can barely string together a coherant sentence, total ignoramouses in every way. Well, these types are breeding. What kind of kinds do we think they’re producing? Hard working, shining beacons of class, ethics and intellectual prowness?
*kids, not kinds
@joyce: “So good parenting can only do so much with a child if the child is set to self distruct on their own, by their own doing.”
I’m glad you are not my parent.
ummmm i grew up with the 17 year old and is the closest thing i ever had to a sibling… dont think you know someone by just reading stuff so dont talk like you know cuz you dont!!… the 17 year old would give you the shirt off his back no matter who you where!!!! and im tired of every one making it out to be like the 17 year old is a bad person!!! things happen when your a kid ppl learn!! havnt you ever made a mistake!.. idk what any of you ppl say you will never know the kind loveing great person that i have known my whole life! oh yea and the 17 year old has great parents better than alot of kids could wish 4!!!
@boooo! - “Well, these types are breeding. What kind of kinds do we think they’re producing? Hard working, shining beacons of class, ethics and intellectual prowness?” - LOL!! No, don’t think so! I can agree with you on that! However, when bad parenting is involved and it can be proven, then let’s put some on the parent. But I do believe that some children are just bound to do things their way regardless of their upbringing or mom and dad’s parenting prowess - ie: “you kinda do have to put fault on the parents when one of the kids is 17, still a legal minor” - this one is past the point of the parents “controlling” them, less putting the kid in a straight jacket and locking them in a padded room which would then be viewed as child abuse (shruggs). So what’s one to do with a young person that has gone off track?
@Gasbag - point well taken on the breaking the window. Guess those people living in the 60’s need to wake up…or be robbed.
Like that young Master Ballard got to serve only 2 months. The pattern of American justice is shown by the cavalier way the courts deal with property crimes and non lethal (most of the time) crimes against persons, as opposed to their draconian reaction to crimes against the state. Now if he’d downloaded some anonymous kiddy porn pix from some file sharing website, they’d make sure he didn’t see freedom for a long time. Or if he’d been some young black from the “jects” selling some crack, well then off you go to the oubliettes.
Stick a knife in someone’s belly and the victim pulls through thanks to UVA’s trauma team, well plead it down to felonious assault from attempted murder, take a month or two in jail and “welcome home bro”.
@joyce: Still glad you are not my parent.
the ppl talkin bs on the 17 year old need to grow up.. you dont know the person what so ever… smh.. same on you tisk tisk on you. and get a life. smh
and to joyce…. you act like the person is a monster.. the wat you talking ppl might mistake you for 1.. a stray jacket?? rele?? wow tisk tisk on u!
way*
4real erbody needs 2 shut the hell up cuz nun of yall know da 17 yr…..he is a great person..yea he did sum stupid..bt havnt yall done anything dumb..havnt yall made a mistake….i bet about 80 or 90 percent of yall hav gotten arrested once in your life….i bet all of yall hav done sumthin illegal..so dnt judge anybody cuz ur no betta….n since i kno nun of yall kno the 17 yr old yall deff need 2 stop bein judgemental cuz i lived wit him ..ive known him 4 a long time..i love him 2 death….hes been there wit me thru thick n thin…..he is my bestfriend..he is my life..so dnt b judgmental wen all of yall r guilty of things to..n 4 all of yall parents on here ….yall need 2 check ur kids cuz dis aint da 70 or 80s anymore….cuz i kno 99% of ur kids r doin dumb things jus like these kids did..so stop bein judgemental n go raise ya kids n go 2 work insted of bein bored wit ur life n judgin otha ppl ova da internet plz
you tell um supportin17yrold… we the only ones that know the person.. shame on the grown folks for talk bs on kids.. tisk tisk smh
Exactly “love” ..these ppl dnt kno nun bout da 17yr old…so they need 2 chill..n worry bout there own life n the things they hav done..they need 2 go bak 2 da memmory book n reminse about all da dumb things they hav done in there life time and realize kids r kids..they do stupid things ..bt dats how erbody learns…bcuz the dumb pitty things makes them a betta,smarter,n stronger person es u start 2 mature
supportin17yrod, Ahhhh the impertinence of youth!
Yes, I’ve done illegal things. But I’ve never broken into 200 cars. I’ve also never been arrested. I’ve always been of the opinion that you’d have be pretty dumb to get arrested, frankly. Getting convicted of a crime? “Dumb” doesn’t begin to describe….
As for the assertion that %80-%90 of us have been arrested and that %99 of our kids are doing things like this…. ummmm….. I think you need to find some new friends.
It’s not the 70s or 80s anymore, it’s true. Back then, crime was much, much worse and perpetrators were punished much less severely than today.
The 17 year old won’t be punished as severely as the other two, you should be thankful for that.
But, seriously, get some new friends. You sound like you’re hanging around with some real losers.
your right!!.. live and learn… the 17 year old will turn out to be a better person than a lot of ppl in life.. have respect for there family there going thro a hard time!.. talk bout the 17 year old other ppl aint no better.. but idk what they think keep your nose in the air.. that just means u needed better raisings!
my friends r amazin…dis is 2011….erbody is doin erthing….crime is extremely bad…the government jus hides it….and the 17 yr old shuldnt get n alot of trouble cuz he is 2 gud of a person….so erbody needs 2 stop actin like there s**t doesnt stink n stop bin judgemental n talkin s**t bout my bestfriend yo….straight up…im gettin tired of erbody poppin off actin like they know these kids….grow da hell up n go do sum wit ya family..insted of bein judgemental pray 4 dese kids n learn from them so it helps u n da future …so u dnt let ur kids make these mistakes….uuhhhh…so damn judgemental
rele??? have some respect! you talk like you know the ppl you rele dont and you can have the perfect little group of friends that dont mean something bad wont happen like forreal!!! think about what your saying… mabey you need 2 step into the real world.. im done with this iv said what i had to say.. say what you want.. ppl make mistakes live with it… and yea we r thinkful but still the news dosent tell the whole story just remember that… ppl live and learn.. yaw rele need to get over your self.. and dont talk about ppl you dont even know.. thats just a shame in its self.. what a shame.
If the 17 year old writes like his friends do, then he is likely to be too s t o o o o o p i d to have a real job and will be back to the life of crime in no time.
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these**
judgin somebody ***
grow up and stop talking bout a 17 year old like for real.. you dont know nothing about him so shut your mouth. he is a straight A student and the most caring person ik.. all yaw ppl r childish
Ok. Everybody commenting is commenting because they’re insecure, except for the two children who cannot spell nor use correct grammar.
Show self respect and you will gain others’ respect.
I don’t know this 17 year old, it’s true. And it’s also true that he/she made a mistake. Yes, he/she can learn from it.
But part of the consequences of committing these acts is to be judged by society. If you or your friend can’t deal with that, they shouldn’t have committed these acts.
you dont know any thing about what happened.. but im done i said what i had 2 say
What’s kind of fascinating, as an observation, is that those posting in defense of the alleged criminals seem to actually believe their tawdry tirades are beneficial to the accused. Although, I must agree with one assertion they have made frequently in that many, if not all, posting about the accused probably do not know them. I certainly do not, nor will the judge, jury and commonwealth’s attorney, but that will neither stop them from trying the case nor imposing a sentence.
I think the commentary from the “supporters” and “friends” of these youth says it all. Looks like their friends are just as useless and incompetent as the criminals. Sad.
I am willing to bet that the kids above with the poor grammar and spelling have high school diplomas. They are pretty good examples of what the public school system is pumping out now.
Yes, “texting speak” is the new English to the up and comers. These kids don’t know how to actually construct a real sentence anymore.
@ Restore the Republic - I don’t think the defenders are going to understand a word you said, seeing as how you used all those high fallutin’ words that are actually fully spelled out, with all that fancy sentence structure goin’ on. I think you lost them. ;D
Perhaps the 17 year old is smart. He was doing an internship with the other two in case he couldn’t get into college after finishing high school.
Ha Ha Ha! You **Adults** trashing the kids for their writing skills. **Priceless**
I think “Love” is real but “supportin17yold” is a blatant funny troll, way too much carefully spelled out ebonics.
I know the “17 year old” real well , and i know that he is a great and wonderful person. He would literally give you the shirt off his back , do anything for his friends and family. Sometimes people hang with the wrong crowds , and do stupid things. Thats exactly what happend to him. So people stop being judgmental. Its not fair. You people do not know the “17 year old” like I do , and if you did know him you would say the same thing Im saying right now. He has always been there for me , and has tooken my side on things. So i am going to do the same. I don’t care who likes it and who doesn’t. Thats really all I have to say. I love you man!
MRS T. - I think we are underserved due to the laxidasical and soft-hearted manner in which our judicial system conducts itself. When the police arrest people and the charges are applied, they end up with a sense that they have waisted their time when the Judge says, “I’m sentencing you to 1 year in jail and I’m going to suspend the entire term, just so long as you can promise me that you’ll be a good boy from now on.” If it were once it wouldn’t make much of a difference, but it happens consistantly.
@True Friend– I don’t get the point of your post. The topic of this article above isn’t “Nice People I’ve Known.” The topic is about a pair of kids who committed many MANY crimes.
You do comprehend that it’s pretty extraordinary to commit that many crimes, right? Can you also understand that at some point, folks don’t really care whether the criminals are “nice” or not? Folks just want their shizz back, yo, and they’ll pretty much do what it takes to put these two behind bars so they can’t steal even more of OTHER PEOPLE’S STUFF. See, it really doesn’t matter one bit to anyone that the kid has “tooken” your side on things. Because that doesn’t change the fact that he and girl did a really bad thing to a couple hundred innocent people. Do you get it now?
I know I’m not the only one concerned and disturbed by the posts from “love” and “supporting17yrold.” Has our education system completely failed these kids? You need to have parents and others who see the problems and ask for help where needed.
dont you put me in any thing “lennie” i dont know who you are and you dont know me. grow up for real. goodbye
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Other than the poor grammar the consistent comments by @love &17 were that ‘you don’t know him like I do’, and he made a mistake, no big deal.
To the first point I say whew, glad I don’t and to the second point it appears as though he didn’t make a few mistakes, he made 200. There’s a difference.
Which of our lovely schools did these 3 attend?
“Tooken”
Some of these comment threads here over time have needed nothing more than a cursory glance, but this one has nuggets of humor embedded. I trust more wisdom is forthcoming from the friends of the accused?
I went to school with all these kids, and know them well. I just wish they would have CARED enough about their future to avert their negative energy into something more productive. I’ve come to a realization that “Gettin’ Guap” ain’t the most important thing in this world, (for me). One thing I’ve learned is, “car shopping” can leave you with a bill you REALLY don’t want to pay..SO DON’T DO IT! If you think you’re big Mr. Badass and like to rob people, at least rob other criminals, not people that you don’t even know.
Lighten up folks, “tooken” is the past plural tense of the verb to toke. It isn’t used “properly,” but y’all know what was meant.
To demonstrate its correct use: Love, Sparky, and SUPPORTIN17yrold fell up in my crib totin’ some hittin’ and holdin’ weefa. We tooken dat jonszun den Sparky runned off wit Chris and Kris for a lil window shoppin’ if ya no wha’msayin’……
@ bluto - Thanks, but you must be the only one in the world who thinks anyone needs an education about the world “tooken”?
It’s about as obvious as the sun rising and tells more than warming rays.
You really are at at loss….
Does your Mom know you are online and using her computer?
@Restore– I do believe that Bluto is being facetious.
Re Love and Supportin17, I always find the posts from friends and family defending their pet criminals to be surreal and occasionally hilarious. The comments posted on various news sites and blogs after the infamouse Shifflett brothers’ crime spree and Rte 20 south eluding a few years back were classics. My favorite was when someone posted the inevitable “He’d give you the shirt right off his back” and it was pointed out that Mr Shifflett had stolen clothing in at least one of his burglaries.
One has to wonder if Ballard and Ryder were handing out loot to their friends like it was party favors.
according to her FB profile Kristie is interested in Cannabis Sativa, Partying, and Piercings. A white trash trifecta.