davis_square | Break-in attempt in the area

A friend of mine who lives about a block from the Square told me about an incident at his house this morning, and I figured a warning to others in the area would be a good thing.

My friend was woken up by the doorbell being rung repeatedly. After finally getting up to see who it was (no one was expected), he noticed two guys walking down the driveway, and went out to find out what they were up to. By the time he got outside, one dude was peering in the garage window, and the other had the back hatch to the house partly open.

When confronted, they gave some bullshit story about being called to install vinyl siding on a blue house at my friend's address - then the other pulled out a cellphone, "called" someone, and said, "Oh, wrong house. We really wanted number 27." Then they booked it out the driveway and headed down a side street, rather than continuing down the block towards where number 27 would be. Except there is no number 27 on that street, and no other blue house.

So it seems the guys are looking for unoccupied houses to break into. In broad daylight - this happened earlier today.

My friend called the cops right away and spoke to some detectives. Later, the cops had him come with them to ID two guys who were picked up in Cambridge after showing up on someone's doorstep "looking for directions" and not knowing anything. These guys are known and one apparently just came out of the can. And the detectives are pretty sure it's the same guys; they match what description my friend was able to give and were in the right area at the right time w/another bogus story.

They were on foot in both cases - two white guys, in their 20s, one of them bullet-headed (bald or shaved).

Some details about my friend's house have been changed to protect anonymity.