My stomach dropped when I saw the broken glass on the sidewalk next to my car.
Like far too many people who've had similar experiences, I knew immediately what had happened: I was the victim of a car burglary.
I'd just finished playing tennis one night last month at Miller Park in Fair Oaks and was trudging back to my car parked near the courts.
When I noticed the sparkle of broken glass beside my passenger front door, all I could think of is what had I left inside? My wallet, cell phone, checkbook?
Fortunately, it had been a quick smash and grab, the thieves had snatched a small backpack from the passenger seat, thinking, I'm sure, that something of value was inside.
Not much, it turns out.
Besides my cell phone, the bag contained some clothes and an inexpensive watch. My wallet was still inside the unopened glove compartment.
When I dutifully went home and made the necessary calls to my insurance company, my cell phone provider and the Sheriff's Department, I never expected to see my stolen belongings again. Nor did I think the culprits, in such a commonplace crime, would be apprehended.
So I was completely surprised when I received a call several weeks later from Sacramento County Park Ranger Tom Hofsummer.
He asked if my cell phone had been stolen. It turns out, Hofsummer said, that with the help of other rangers and sheriff's deputies, he had arrested two suspects with a carful of burglary tools and stolen property - including cells phones, driver's licenses and a credit card.
The arrests were made March 24 along Bridge Street in Fair Oaks, which provides on-street parking for walk-in access to the American River Parkway. It's a popular spot for hikers and bicyclists.
Unfortunately, it also has a high incidence of vehicle burglaries.
Sergey Igorevich Ushakov, 20, and Igor Khassaf, 28, both of 4951 Date Ave., Sacramento, were arrested on suspicion of possession of stolen property, possession of burglary tools, possession of narcotics paraphernalia and conspiracy.
Park rangers told me that because I filed a sheriff's report, listing items stolen from my car, including my cell phone, it helped in making the arrests.
"Without a report, we wouldn't have been able to pin it as stolen," said Steve Flannery, the county's chief park ranger.
"It only takes a little effort," he said of picking up the phone and calling the Sacramento County Sheriff's Communications Center at (916) 874-5115.
Flannery said the stolen property recovered wasn't just from car burglaries, but also from residential burglaries.
Rangers say parkway visitors need to be careful about where they park and what they leave in their cars. In particular, don't leave a purse in plain sight and always take your wallet with you.
In my case, I was amazed at how brazen the burglars had been in breaking into my vehicle.
It took place adjacent to, and in plain view of, several occupied tennis courts.
But park ranger Anthony Bennett said he's seen worse.
One sting operation that he directed with park rangers and the California Department of Fish and Game happened last summer at the Rossmoor Drive access to the parkway.
A park ranger and state game warden had just parked their "bait car" and barely had time to hide in the bushes to begin surveillance when a man drove up in a pickup truck, yanked down the window of the bait car and grabbed a purse off the seat.
"We had him arrested within six minutes," Bennett said. The suspect was later sentenced to 16 months in state prison.
Call the Bee's Walter Yost, (916) 608-74
