Authorities have issued a warning to residents in Oak Creek to be aware of thieves in the area.

There have been 44 burglaries throughout the city in less than four months. Police say they haven't seen an outbreak of burglaries in Oak Creek like this before, and say the burglars are becoming more bold. Thieves are breaking into homes and cars, often times when the garage door is open and when residents are home.

Bob and Luella were almost victimized by one of the burglars.

"Suddenly there's a guy outside calling my name," explained Bob.

"He asked my husband to come, and then he looked in the house and said, ‘I want you to come outside also,’” said Luella.

The man told the couple he was doing work on their neighbor’s fence in the morning.

"He has contracted to repair that, and the only way he could repair it was to come on my property," Bob said.

"He wanted to show us where he might be stepping on our bushes so there wouldn't be any problem or trouble," explained Luella.

When the man left, the couple went inside and noticed someone had been in their home. Things were moved around, but nothing was missing.

In a different part of town, interim police Chief Steven Anderson described a different scenario.

"Somebody had their window open while they were sleeping, and somebody actually entered through an open window by pushing the screen out," Anderson said.

The victim in that break-in says the burglar took keys from her purse and stole her car in the middle of the night.

Bob and Luella's incident happened in the middle of the day.

"We're afraid somebody's going to come back," Luella said.

The couple has since upgraded the security in their home.

Police say thieves are preying on people who don't lock their doors. If you leave your windows open, Anderson suggests getting locks so burglars can't push windows up further than you have them cracked.

If you see anything suspicious call Oak Creek Police, 414-762-8200 and press 0. If you have information about any of the burglaries and want to remain anonymous, call Oak Creek Crime Stoppers at 414-766-7699.