Woman twice taped breaking into house

AUSTIN, Texas, Aug. 14 (UPI) -- Police in Texas said a woman who was caught on camera burglarizing a house multiple times told investigators she thought the home was abandoned.

Investigators said the 73-year-old Austin homeowner set up a motion-sensitive camera near his front door after his house was burglarized in early July and the cameras photographed a woman entering the house July 12 and 13, the Austin Daily Herald reported Friday.

Police said the DirecTV shirt worn by the woman in the images led them to Direct Communications in Austin, where an employee recognized the woman as Susan Lynn Johnston, 41.

Johnson called police July 20 and volunteered to come in after officers spoke with members of her family. She called her actions "wrong" and "stupid" and said she targeted the house because she had passed it many times while canoeing and believed it to be abandoned.

She returned several of the items reported stolen, including a vacuum, a wrench set, a few flashlights and a cooler. However, she said she did not know anything about a second cooler and $1,250 in cash that were also reported missing. The victim claimed a gold bar and a silver bar were missing, but the items were not among those originally reported and Johnson said she has no knowledge of them.

Johnston is facing three felony counts of second-degree burglary and one felony count of theft.