ROBBERY UPDATE........NO ONE HAS BEEN CAUGHT. PLEASE READ UP FOLKS. NEW INFO

Ok guys,

These last couple of days must be a villa owners/rental agencies nightmare. Robberies and BIG rat sightings. If all this weren't so horrible it would almost be laughable. I had a quiet lunch today with the women that were terrorized the other night. Helpful to not have thumping techno music in the back round........So far, everything reported (even the lack of hearing capability) was confirmed correct other than this happened last Thursday night NOT Friday. I took notes over lunch so I could report the facts correctly. Here are some of my findings, some of which might be repeated from the initial report.



Event began at roughly midnight on Thursday after the women returned from dinner and retired to their bedrooms for the night. The villa is in Flamand with a view overlooking IDF (which gets kudos at a later point in this story). Both bedrooms locked but still access to the outdoor living spaces/kitchen which could have allowed access into the villa (PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS WAS NOT THE MOST BOTHERSOME FACTOR AS THE CULPRITS WERE STILL TRYING TO GET INTO THE BEDROOMS FROM THE OUTSIDE SLIDERS). As stated previously, when all parties heard "rattling around outside" one group of girls ran to the other girls bedroom to check in and they all confirmed that they were hearing a noise now upstairs. Smartly, cell phones were quickly grabbed and the girls all locked themselves into one bedroom. Neither of the bedrooms had local phones. THIS MIGHT BE SOMETHING FOR OWNERS TO THINK ABOUT AS IT IS NOT A BIG $$$ OUTPUT TO BUY A COUPLE OF PHONES. While locked in, two women rang their husbands in the States telling them what was going on and asking them to do anything to help call the gendarme. ALL VILLAS SHOULD HAVE EMERGENCY NUMBERS IN THE BEDROOMS AND NOT JUST IN THE LIVING AREA (where the women could not get to the list). Other woman with an international phone was trying to ring the gendarme who got the contact number from her husband in the States. He was running interference. Please keep in mind what it might have felt like to be a spouse of someone locked in a room while you are not present to help. Gendarme were reached.......THIS IS IMPORTANT. Please someone local correct me if I am wrong. The women said that they understood that most Gendarme finish at around midnight? Their call was funneled over to St. Maarteen. They counted over 15 minutes while they were trying to explain the situation to "someone that did not speak English". This is with a person trying to speak that had minor French language skills. So, on the phone for 15 minutes.....during which the girls are hearing rattling on on the glass sliders upstair and at least 2 people speaking French outside trying to get in. Robbers headed downstairs to the 2 bedrooms which had sliders. The girls were locked in one. For 30 minutes they were trapped while the sliders were being shook and the men were trying to get in the room. They kept on screaming that the "Gendarme are on the way". Here is something interesting.....After much thought since this event, no sleep (this happened the 2nd night of their week stay) upset stomachs and an overall sense of "if were hadn't already paid to be here we would have left.....", and interesting theory arose. IS IT POSSIBLE THAT THE HOUSE WAS HIT AT MIDNIGHT WHEN THE ROBBERS KNEW EMERGENCY SERVICE GETS SENT OVER TO SXM AND WERE THE ROBBERS SMART ENOUGH TO KNOW THE RESPONSE TIME? This is interesting in the fact that after furniture was moved in front of the bedroom slider etc. the robbers still didn't flee after hearing the Gendarme were on their way. The ladies almost felt like the guys knew how things worked and that they had some time to spare...........?

After dealing with this for nearly close to 45 minutes there was silence. They had heard the other bedroom being ransacked (right next door) which resulted in a loss of $$$ and a computer THAT was later found on the side of the road near the IDF. All of this for a few hundred bucks???

Side story is that one of the women's husbands is working the phones from the US. Gets through to someone at IDF (they were frequent guests in the past) and an employee took off on foot to help the women. IDF guy arrived at the same time as the Gendarme and should be commended as well as the IDF who found and room to put the rattled women up in for the night GRATIS after they were clear at 4 am of the Gendarme report.

I know the villa name and I know the agency which handled the SBH arrival and will only report if necessary. GOOD NEWS is that it is not a company EVER mentioned on this sight and the villa was booked with an agency in the States that I have never heard mentioned on this site (which is really here nor there when someone is out to rob you). I can report that the SBH rep for this real-estate company did not EVER have their local agent respond after the theft. I was there earlier tonight when the rep called and over heard the convo that did not include any questions regarding the well being of the guests. The call was simply "what time are you departing tomorrow".....I am SO not kidding. Booking agent in US was called who got in touch with local contact who got in touch with the owner (I believe to be French) and reported back that the owner had no desire to do ANYTHING to try to make things more comfortable for these gals (they did not ask for anything special by the way but knew that the villa was empty 3 days after they left).


So........I know this has been a long story. These folks are all what I would call tough women around 50 ish in age well healed and certainly not stupid. As a woman, I was looking at them over lunch and thought that there spirits just looked beaten. I spoke about potential scenarios where they would feel comfortable coming back to SBH. All said that this would not be their last trip.

I few scraps I missed. One gendarme said to one of the women something to the effect "are you sure you really want to report this?". When arriving the next day at 8 am after no sleep to make a further reporting at the Gendarmarie, the women noticed 2 mug shots up on the wall and asked "who are those guys" and were responded with "they are in prison in Guadaloupe".......OUR ROBBERS I THINK. Also while there they over heard someone filing another complaint about a stolen computer on the same night from somewhere near "Flamand Beach". So........apparently not the only thing going on that night.


So sorry for the length of this story. I just wanted to make sure I got everything straight as I sit in my locked up bedroom hearing the wind blow around doors and think of the St. Barth I use to know. kr

My spirit would be broken, too. It kind of is, and it didn't even happen to me. Thank you so much for the story.

But maybe when the dust settles, we can realize that we are a great group of people here that love a particular place, and there is no reason why any of us have to give in to this horrible situation. I would have no problem to be a "buddy" on the island to someone I know, who would be able to call me in an emergency. These women were lucky to have the husband to call, who in turn called IDF. I strongly believe that these rental companies should have someone on call, day and night, in the event of such an emergency. In the past, their worst call was for a lost key. But they are going to have to step up their game.

Thank you Kimberly for your persistence in presenting the facts of this horrible event.

What a crummy vacation experience. Certainly not the thing the island wants to be associated with. I'm still trying to understand the motivation for wanting to try to get to the ladies in the bedroom other than maybe to terrorize? Or was it something worse! Maybe the crooks were thinking they were in the bedroom protecting cash and Jewelery? In Houston I have heard stories of crooks watching for nice jewelery at the grocery stores and following ladies home but they generally pray on the elderly. This does sound like an different kind of event and not just a petty crime. Hopefully not a pattern on SBH. I hope that this won't discourage them from going out and enjoying themselves in the future.

Wow. Long time lurker here. Been coming once a year four last four years, and couldn't (probably wouldn't ) have done it without the great insight and information posted by the regulars. Thanks so much for the details and reporting. As much as I hate it, we have a new appreciation for the crime risks (underreported or blind-eye?) which are even in SBH. Now need to have a back-up plan as to how to call police (learn to say in French the name of villa and I need help) before 12 a.m. and dial 18 on some phone after midnight. Unsettling, but thanks for the effort Reed.

cc,

Welcome to the forum!

after I read this thread, one of things that you mentioned, phones in other rooms does make sense. getting villa owners to do this will be another story. also, know who you are renting from, cheaper rates does not mean anything if you are not safe.

The other thing is to rent or buy a local cell phone when you arrive on the island. you can obtain one across from the airport at the gas station for around 35 euros. with that phone you can call 18. after the fire department picks up, tell them you need help, they speak english.

also, if its after midnight tell them you have an emergency, don't explain further, just tell them where you are, so at least someone will show up immediately, you can explain later, the main thing is that will scare off any intruders and you will be safe, and that is the main agenda.

Is it 17 before midnight and 18 after or 18 all the time

Diana, without island addresses I wonder how one could successfully communicate a location? I image all the land lines have caller id and are mapped in some sort of a database the first responders can access. It would be interesting to have someone with local experience weigh in on this topic of location by villa names. Perhaps Jeff, Dennis or Rosita has some information they could share.

Kim -
Thanks for reporting on all the robberies lately. It's truly terrifying to hear how these guys kept coming and coming even after they knew people were home. Thinking back on my villa, about the only thing that I could have used to slow them down if they broke into the bedroom was bug spray/raid sprayed into their faces. Of course that wasn't stored in the bedroom so it wouldn't have been much use. I wonder if villa owners should keep pepper spray in a drawer in every bedroom too...........of course that would lead to a lot of questions and a lot of worry.

andynap said:

Is it 17 before midnight and 18 after or 18 all the time

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andy, I would only dial 18, because the firemen pick up immediately and they have to know some english, its required.

and JEK, the firemen have computers, tell them the name of the villa, such as villa dan, with location, such as colombier, and will look up the villa online and will know the location. if you know who you rented from, such as wimco, or if you rented from a local person, let them know that also.

Diana,

So in the future do you think folks should call the Fire Department who speak English as opposed to the Gendarme where you might get booted over to St. Maarteen and a non English speaking person? Or, should someone with decision making clout on this island require that there is ALWAYS an English speaking person on EACH shift in the gendarme station. Seems pretty simple when the majority of the $$$ coming into this island is from American tourists.

NOTE ABOUT THE VILLA. VERY expensive villa. When I visited yesterday I was thinking this place was going to be overly tricked out. IMHO, they WAY over payed for what they got. Small bedrooms, uncomfortable furniture in the small living area, major loud noise from the road, non-working satellite service for the bedroom TV's. etc. kr.

andynap said:

Is it 17 before midnight and 18 after or 18 all the time

Click to expand...

From their webpage

well Kimberly, the island seems to be getting quite a few russian and european tourists, perhaps more than americans since the dollar has dropped significantly. As far as your question goes about who to call, I can only speak for myself. I would call 18 because I know they speak english and will respond immediately.

Bullying the local government to provide special services such as english speaking gendarmes would not work. I mean do you really think that when french citizens come to the us, they could bully the us government into providing french speaking emergency personnel?

This would be an opportunity to ask a few questions . . .

you are so right jek, everyone that is interested in really getting something done on the island, should attend this meeting. bruno magras will be there to answer questions. all invited.

What particularly scares me about both of Kimberly's stories is that the victims were actually in the villas at the time of the thefts, and particularly in the second case where there's no doubt that the thieves knew someone was inside while they were ransacking the place. This has gone beyond a crime of opportunity as in the case of items taken from unlocked and unattended cars and villas. We've always locked doors and put away valuables when we leave the villa for the day or evening, but it would never occur to me to lock up when we're still inside! I do hope that progress is made in solving these crimes. Really scary...

didier said:

after I read this thread, one of things that you mentioned, phones in other rooms does make sense. getting villa owners to do this will be another story. also, know who you are renting from, cheaper rates does not mean anything if you are not safe.

The other thing is to rent or buy a local cell phone when you arrive on the island. you can obtain one across from the airport at the gas station for around 35 euros. with that phone you can call 18. after the fire department picks up, tell them you need help, they speak english.

also, if its after midnight tell them you have an emergency, don't explain further, just tell them where you are, so at least someone will show up immediately, you can explain later, the main thing is that will scare off any intruders and you will be safe, and that is the main agenda.

Click to expand...

This is the least expensive way to give yourself peace of mind. For those of us that come at least once a year, it's a no brainer. My recommendation is to pick up that cheap phone from Dauphine in Gustavia. They let you keep your number as long as you use the phone at least once a year. Once you have it it should be in your purse, pocket, or on the nightstand next to the bed. I would much rather reach for the phone than try and confront someone with pepper spray or anything else.

Phil

I ordered the air horn. Cheap protection. The villa phone is just fine