According to Sgt. Moises Perez, the perpetrator usually strikes between 3 a.m. and 4 a.m. in the area around Belmont.

"He has a screw driver and he forces the screw driver in through the skin of the metal door and then he pops the actual lock from the vehicle," said Sgt. Perez.

Perez said the suspect then rifles through the car, looking for loot but, often walks away empty handed.

"A thousand dollars worth of damage," said Perez. "It seems ridiculous".

Since the beginning of the year, Dayton Police say there have been 29 similar car break-ins, where the locks were popped, but nothing was taken.

"This is really just petty breaking-in," said Scott Welnack, a break-in victim. "They're not really taking anything. I don't understand what the motivation was".

Welnack's car has been hit twice in recent months. "I'm pretty sick of it to be honest," he said. "It keeps happening every few months, just random breaking into cars around here".

One of Welnack's neighbors recently turned personal surveillance video over to police, in hopes that the culprit will finally be caught.

Read more: wdtn