Rochester Junior Olympian has ID stolen ahead of competition

Rising car thefts in Rochester

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(ABC 6 News) – In less than 3 weeks, Mateo Wilkins is planning to leave for the Junior Olympics in Charlotte, N.C.

“Yeah, it would be my last year to do the Junior Olympics. I’ve been there 5 times before,” said Mateo.

But the world-class fencer has a problem: someone stole his ID from his car early Wednesday morning.

“I saw that my glove compartment was open. There was a bunch of stuff spread throughout my car. Wallet was gone, a bunch of other stuff, chargers, napkins, my coat,” said Mateo.

Rochester police stated thieves are always on the prowl.

“More times than not it’s not the first time they have prowled a car and generally speaking they are going to prowl multiple vehicles in a given time,” said Sgt. Eric Strop with RPD.

And this isn’t the first the Wilkins family has dealt with this.

A few years ago, they had both of their cars stolen from their driveway at the same time. And about a month ago, a laptop was stolen from a neighbor.

The Wilkins family said they’ve seen today’s person on their cameras before, but they say this theft is causing more headaches than most.

“And other people around the neighborhood has gotten some stuff stolen or stuff messed with, stuff broken into and it looked like the same person that we saw on the camera a month ago,” said Mateo.

Strop advised car owners to make sure you take precautions before leaving your vehicle.

“Most often what we are seeing is people are leaving their vehicles unlocked and this allows an opportunity for people who are out their prowling cars and opportunity to get into the vehicle,” said Strop.

It’s a lesson Mateo learned the hard way as he’s trying to figure out what to do next.

“I don’t have a passport. So, I got to go through a bunch of hoops and hope they believe me when I say who I am at the airport. Hopefully my license will come. But we leave in a little under a month and I don’t have a license to get to Charlotte for the Junior Olympics,” said Mateo.

Mateo has filled out a police report and RPD says video helps greatly in investigations like this.

If you know anything about this incident, you are asked to call Rochester police.