Alleged burglar steals surveillance camera, but forgets to turn it off

A Haughton man was arrested after allegedly sneaking into a neighbor’s garage and stealing a number of items, including a live streaming surveillance camera that he forgot to turn off after the theft.

Bossier Sherriff’s spokesperson Lt. Bill Davis says the victim had installed the camera because his garage door was malfunctioning, which prompted the theft by 43-year-old Franklin Welzbacher.

“Well, that surveillance camera caught his neighbor coming over to his garage, he picked up a paintbrush, and then he looked at the camera, and took the camera too. But… the camera was still rolling when he took it back to his house.”

The victim is accusing Welzbacher of also taking some workout equipment and boxing gloves.

Davis says after the theft the victim shared the still streaming footage with the deputies, and the Lt. says it made for a pretty open and shut case…

“You can see it’s at this man’s house at a table, there are some items there that you can see clearly on the camera. There are some tools, a table with a plastic container, a bottle of alcohol, that the camera catches live streaming.”

Davis says the footage made it easy to catch the thief, and the incident is a good example of how effective a simple surveillance camera can be.

“That surveillance video really pays off, and if you are able to live to stream it, you’ll maybe see some things that you don’t want to see, but at least you’ll catch the bad guy.”

Welzbacher was booked on Simple Burglary