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Mount Rainier saw an unprecedented spike in burglaries this summer, and it was mostly due to burglary ring that stretched into Brentwood and other towns in District 1.

According to court documents, Jody P. Carter, 42, of the 3000 block of Bladensburg Road N.E. in Washington, D.C. and Frank J. Johnson, 47, of the 3800 block of Hamilton Street in Hyattsville, were arrested in late August in connection with the burglaries. Police are looking for a third man they believe pawned the electronic goods the two men stole, Mount Rainier Police Chief Michael Scott said.

Police held a community meeting in August and increased police patrols throughout the neighborhoods. Mount Rainier police arrested one of the men, and the same day, Hyattsville police arrested the other as he was crawling out of a window. Both men have been charged with counts of burglary, robbery, theft and second degree assault. They are being held in Upper Marlboro Correctional Center while awaiting their preliminary trial hearings on Oct. 6 and 9 at the Upper Marlboro District Court House.

Mount Rainier resident John Barringer said he was shocked this summer with the crime increase and especially after two neighbors on Rainier Avenue were hit by burglars.

"I've lived in Mount Rainier for 15 years," he said. "There are easily a few burglaries in Mount Rainier a month, but not dozens of them. I've never seen this many in such a short period of time."

From mid-June through August, the town had 33 burglaries, compared with 18 the year before. Police attribute the spike to the burglary ring, Scott said.

"Since they've been locked up, we've had two burglaries in the city in the areas they were hitting," Scott said. The burglars were targeting neighborhoods of single-family homes, Scott said.

Although the crimes are much more concentrated than before, the number of burglaries throughout the year isn't that much higher. The town had 59 total burglaries from January through the end of August, compared to 54 for the same period last year, according to Scott.

But the target of the burglaries had also changed, Scott said. The town's burglaries typically occur in multi-family and apartment homes, but single-family home neighborhoods were hardest-hit this summer.

The burglars entered homes during the day and at night, when they were both empty and occupied. They typically went through unlocked doors and windows on first and second floors, Scott said.

There are no reports that they used weapons, but one victim was assaulted with a computer monitor the burglaries were stealing, Scott said.

And although police have arrested the two men they believe were responsible for the crimes, that hasn't stopped residents like Barringer from being extra cautious.

"We took extra precautions in terms of locking the locks we have and being a little more mindful of what's going on," he said. "My family, we made a plan if someone comes in the house, what to do. We didn't feel like we had to do that before."

E-mail Elahe Izadi at eizadi@gazette.net.