Nassau County Sheriff’s Office Press Release
Submitted by Bill Leeper, Sheriff
Nassau County Sheriff Bill Leeper announced today, that Nassau Sheriff’s Deputies captured one of the nation’s most notorious cat burglar’s Monday morning in Hilliard, Florida after being notified by Tennessee, Georgia and South Carolina police authorities he might be in the area. “Blane David Nordahl, 51, from Jacksonville, was arrested on two warrants out of Atlanta, Georgia after he showed up at the Canterberry Apartments in Hilliard to meet his girlfriend’s daughter. After a short foot pursuit, he was arrested and booked into the Nassau County Detention Facility with no bond. The Warrants were for “Burglary with Intent to Commit a First Degree Felony” and “Conspiracy to Commit a Felony” Sheriff Bill Leeper said.
Blane David Nordahl , known as “The Silver Thief” and “Burglar to the Stars”, made his living pilfering expensive silver items, from fancy homes across the East Coast of America. He is believed to have netted $3 million in around 150 burglaries throughout his criminal career. Despite his professional approach to burglary, he has been caught numerous times and served an 8-year sentence after being convicted of stealing $50,000 worth of silver cutlery from the home of Ivana Trump. Other notables he stole from were Sportscaster Curt Gowdy and Musician/Singer Bruce Springsteen.
In a burglary typical of his modus operandi, he would approach a target house at night while the owners were asleep and carefully remove panes of glass from a French door, thus avoiding any alarms that may be triggered by picking the lock. He would even sometimes sneak past sleeping dogs. When all alarms were disabled, he would remove entire drawers full of silver items and take them outside to test them with his own silver test kit; plate silver would be thrown away at the scene and he would leave with only the finest and most expensive items. Nordahl would steal an average of around $20,000 worth of silver in a single burglary.
“Nordahl mainly stole silver because it is usually kept in the kitchen and dining areas, which made it easier to take and not disturb anyone in the home” said Leeper.
Nordahl was also being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) at the time of his arrest.
Editor’s Note: The New York Times, published more details on Nordahl’s past. Click here for further information.
NCSO offers these Home Safety Tips:
Homeowners need to focus on the first floor for burglary prevention. This is the usual entry point for burglars. Here are some steps to take to ensure that safety starts on the first floor:
- Add deadbolt locks if you do not already have them.
- Trim trees that can provide easy access to second-floor windows. Thieves will want access to the master bedroom, since jewelry, cash and credit cards are usually kept there.
- Check basement windows and doors to make sure they are secured.
- Cover basement windows with decorative glass film or coatings. Low, thorny shrubbery outdoors is another deterrent.
- Thieves may bypass homes located on corners, since they have more traffic. If your home is in the middle of a block, make sure you have outdoor lighting, including motion detector lights that go on when someone walks by.
- In apartments, renters should change their locks immediately after moving into a unit. The previous tenant may have a copy of the key. But first check your lease and talk with your building manager or landlord. It could be the locks already were changed.
- Townhouses can be easy targets, because they often have privacy fences and secluded gardens. These are perfect spots for burglars to enter undetected. Consider adding door and window sensors to these areas.
August 26, 2013 7:49 p.m.