A Des Moines family is thankful for a Christmas gift that helped bring justice to the individuals who burglarized their home.
The Polk County Sheriff's office says around 11:45 Wednesday morning Mary Jane and Mike Swanberg's home was targeted by burglars. "It just makes you mad and upset. Why they would do something like that and it is not there's. Leave it alone you know," Mike Swanberg told WHO-TV 13.
It was a crime that the Swanberg's watched unfold live on their Blink home security cameras. Mike said, "They were in the backyard going to the garage trying to go to the garage and running around to the backside of the house. I saw three suspects and that's when I called the police."
Mike first received an alert on his phone detecting motion and the break-in so he called 9-1-1. "Right here on the spot and one vehicle was here and another vehicle here within minutes," Swanberg says.
Because of Mike's quick action, deputies made perhaps two quick arrests "The situation, it developed very rapidly. When deputies arrived the suspects were still in the home," Lieutenant Heath Osberg with the Polk County Sheriff's Office told WHO-TV 13.
33 year old Nathaniel Potter and 33 year old Britney Mullin were arrested at the home and charged with 3rd degree burglary. Mary Jane Swanberg says "I could actually cry right now because I just don't understand it."
41 year old Ryan Mullin fled the scene on foot before being arrested and charged with 2nd and 3rd degree robbery. "He ran about a block to the east and broke into a second home to try and hide from us," Osberg says.
The Swanberg's are thankful they decided to install the cameras just a month ago and received it only as a Christmas gift they originally were unsure about.
"I was like oh what do I want this for?" Mary Jane says. "Nice, it paid off. It actually paid off this time."