Valuable jewelry stolen from Barrie family's home during brazen break-in

On Thursday morning, Chase Mariano's family left their east Barrie home for less than two hours and returned to find a broken window, bedrooms torn apart and a lot of valuable jewelry missing.

"So brazen that they come in during full daylight around lunchtime into somebody's home, and who knows who is still in there," Mariano said.

He said several items were stolen, including a watch collection estimated to be worth over $100,000.

"I actually haven't done that math yet because I think it's going to depress me more, but it would be north of 125 (thousand)," he speculated.

The financial loss hurts but after nearly a decade in the house, Mariano said the discomfort his family feels in their own home since the break-in is more troubling.

"You know, we do feel a little unsafe. It's tough going to sleep at night, or when it gets dark, you get different emotions. It's supposed to be your safe haven, so I've been sleeping with a bat beside my headboard now to feel a little bit safer."

One of the family's neighbours said she saw two men arrive at the property roughly five to 10 minutes after Mariano's wife left the house but said she assumed they were landscapers and didn't think anything of it.

"They said they saw two men independently enter the driveway one at a time and went right up the driveway and into the backyard," lamented Mariano.

A spokesman for Barrie police said in today's society, you can't be too cautious.

"We would encourage people that if you see somebody that appears to be out of place or looks like they don't belong in the neighbourhood, call and let us know," said Peter Leon of the Barrie Police Service.

Mariano is offering a $15,000 cash reward for the return of the jewelry.

He said he feels break-ins are on the rise.

"We are on a bunch of social media groups now, and we've had a lot of great support from the community, but it's been happening a lot lately, and I feel like it's getting worse. A lot of people feel like Barrie is getting worse," he said.

"The day that this break and enter happened, we only had one other occurrence, so to say that it's something we're seeing a lot of it's not 100 per cent accurate. We are starting, though, to see other occurrences involving these types of calls for service," noted Leon.

Still, Mariano's young daughters put their own spin on the broken bathroom window the thieves used to enter the house by decorating the plywood with family members' names and the message 'No Bad Guys Allowed.'

"Trying to make a negative a positive and make our house feel a little bit more homey again," said Mariano.

The police remind residents that if they return home to a situation where something looks suspicious or ajar to call them before entering the property.