Veteran's Lithonia home burglarized 3 times in 2 months

LITHONIA, Ga. — A DeKalb County single mother says she has packed up her home after being repeatedly targeted by burglars.

Four years ago, the house on Marbut Road was the perfect home for Iraq War veteran Quintina Ortiz and her two children. When Ortiz left the Army, she moved to the Lithonia home to raise her family.

"I can't take it anymore, I can't stay here, I just can't," Ortiz said. "I'm a single mom. I have to protect my kids, and that's what I'm going to do. I'm going to protect my kids."

On March 1, Ortiz's home was burglarized, then again on May 7, when thieves took laptops and an iPad. On Mother's Day, Ortiz and her children returned home from church to find the house ransacked again.

Ortiz said by Sunday, her routine was already to check the house first while the kids waited outside.

"I would rather walk in on them and let them get away, do what you want to do to me, but don't mess with my kids," Ortiz said.

Ortiz said the house alarm was ripped from the wall during the second burglary. She said a neighbor witnessed one break-in and did not call police, and police are not hopeful they will ever catch the perpetrators.

"I've been making sacrifices all my life for someone to come in here and just taking everything I've worked hard for, this is just not right," Ortiz said.

Ortiz said everything from perfume to jewelry to electronics to clothes and shoes have been taken.

She spent Mother's Day packing her belongings in a U-Haul. She said she does not know what her plan from here will be.

WSBTV