Doorbell camera captures intruders using keypad to enter Cary home for sale

A Cary family whose home is for sale is feeling unsettled after their doorbell camera captured a suspected burglar using a front door keypad to unlock the house and get inside.

According to a Cary police report, the incident happened earlier this month at a home along Preston Retreat Lane.

The footage obtained by WRAL News appears to show a young man approach the front door, cover the camera with his hand and enter the house with another person.

The homeowner's daughter posted images of the footage online. She did not want to be identified but said the group was inside the home for approximately 13 minutes and did not take anything.

Her family changed the entrance code after the incident. 

"I was at the house about an hour before they broke in last Tuesday,” she said. “I don't think they had malevolent intentions, but you never know what people will do when they're caught off guard."

In a second incident caught on camera three days later, the homeowner's relative said a young man standing with other people unsuccessfully entered a code on the keypad before leaving. 

"We didn't initially believe that burglary or stealing anything was part of their motive, but we have more doubt now given the fact that they returned this time with another man and two vehicles," she said.

The relative said the code was given to more than 10 realtors who showed the house while it was for sale. They're now trying to figure out how the people caught on camera learned the keypad code.

"Don't ever give that code out to anybody over the phone, said Frank DeRonja, Principal Broker at Corcoran DeRonja Real Estate and a member of the Raleigh Regional Assocation of Realtors.

He notes agents use an identification process to verify identities of potential buyers and is urging sellers to be cautious of providing codes to others. 

"Everyone knows your homes for sale. It's being advertised signs in the yard all over the internet, you know, someone might just be fishing."

A spokesperson for the Cary Police Department said officers are trying to identify the people caught on camera. Investigators are describing them as persons of interest.