Cheap Camera Thwarts Apartment Break-in After E-mailing Live Photos to Resident

Robbers may think twice about stealing from the IT-savvy Levent Cetiner who installed a motion-sensor camera in his apartment in case of intrusion. As time goes on, more homeowners and renters are using the relatively inexpensive technology.

Watch Cetiner explain how the camera he set up for less than $50 helped alert him about a break-in and subsequently identify the man who unlawfully entered his home:

The New York Post reports that Cetiner, a 30-year-old IT specialist at the at the School of Visual Arts in Gramercy, as saying he installed the camera hoping it would never need to be employed:

I live on the top floor and thought it would be easy for someone to come in off the fire escape,” Cetiner told The Post.

“I hoped I wouldn’t actually have to use it, but I thought it was a good idea to have. Plus, I work in IT, and I thought it would be a cool thing to play with.”

It turns out it was a good idea to have it after all. When Cetiner received e-mailed photos of a man who was later identified by authorities as José Perez-Quinonez, he called the cops and jetted home. The Post reports that Cetiner banged on the door, yelling that he had caught the robber on camera and police were coming:

“He had packed up my own backpack with the stuff he was stealing!” Cetiner said. “He even took the [computer] chargers! Those are the two most important things I have. I play piano and have been recording on my laptop. If I lose it, I can’t get that stuff back.”

But before the suspect fled, he found the camera monitor that Cetiner had alerted him to by screaming through the door — and even took the time to hide it.

“He must’ve ripped the camera off before we got in,” Cetiner said. “At first, I thought he took it, but it was hidden under my bed.”

As Cetiner stated in the video, Perez-Quinonez was not found with any goods in his possession, but the Post reports that the backpack was found dropped and Perez-Quinonez was inevitably caught.

Earlier this year, a woman set up a camera in her home only to find that her friend was breaking in and stealing pain pills. Watch the local news report:

In yet another case, while at work, a woman watched several men looting her home. Here's footage and her 911 call from the 2009 break-in: