Army Wife Pleads For Return Of Stolen Items

When photographer Nancy Cross began a photo shoot Wednesday evening with a Fort Carson family at Garden of the Gods, she said she was gone only 15 minutes and hid her cellphone, purse and wallet under the passenger seat of her car.

When she returned, someone had broken the window on the passenger door and taken those items. Also stolen were a key holder from an Army wife at Fort Bragg, N.C., and a set of dog tags belonging to her husband, Sgt. First Class Steven Cross, who’s currently deployed to Afghanistan.

“There was, I believe, a white Honda Civic parked next to my car with a man and woman still in it,” said Cross, who lives in Pueblo West with her two children. “When I came back, it was gone, and my car had been broken into.”

The thief, Cross said, ignored a bag of camera lenses in the back seat, worth several thousand dollars.

Cross said there were several families nearby at the time of the burglary, but that no one saw it happen. She reported the crime to Colorado Springs police. Now, she’s worried about being a victim of identity theft.

“My driver’s license, military ID, Social Security card and three credit cards were in there,” said Cross. “The thief already has tried to cash in the cards, but they didn’t go through because they used the wrong ZIP code. But, by not going through, I lost the information that would have told me where they were using it.”

However, Cross said she’s more concerned about getting her sentimental items returned.

“I just want my pictures of my kids, my last voicemail from my husband and my dog tags back,” she said. “It just creeps me out to know that (the thief) knows what my babies look like.”

The burglary happened about 6 p.m. Wednesday in Garden of the Gods Parking Lot 16. Anyone with information about the crime should call police at 719-444-7000.