There has been a recent rash of “high-end” burglaries in south Lake Charles, authorities said.

Lake Charles police worked five home burglaries in the Country Club Road area, and the Calcasieu Parish Sheriff’s Office worked about 20 south of Lake Charles, Lake Charles Police Chief Don Dixon said.

City police investigated three on Dec. 17 and two on Jan. 10, he said.

“They’ll go up and ring the doorbell and see if anybody’s home,” Dixon said. “They’ll go up and ring it a second time. We feel they’ve been casing the neighborhood, casing these houses.”

Once the burglars are assured no one is home, they go to the rear of the house and break in through back windows, Dixon said.

Dixon said police and deputies are jointly investigating the burglaries.

He said mostly cash and jewelry has been stolen, as well as a few guns.

“We feel it’s an organized group,” Dixon said.

Police on Wednesday arrested four Houston men suspected of casing homes, Dixon said. He said they were ringing doorbells and acting suspicious.

They are being investigated to see if they were involved in the previous burglaries, he said. Derrick Deshaun Brooks, 23, Shaquille Richards, 19, Corey Raymond Landor, 24, and Joe Roy Cockerham III, 18, were each charged with two counts of simple trespassing and one count of possessing burglary tools.

Sheriff’s spokeswoman Kim Myers confirmed that the Sheriff’s Office recently investigated about 20 home burglaries south of Lake Charles, although deputies haven’t investigated one believed to be related to the others in three weeks.

Myers said the Sheriff’s Office made two arrests, but the names of those arrested weren’t available Thursday.

“We’re continuing to work the cases to make sure we have arrested everybody responsible,” Myers said.

Dixon had several tips for residents.

• Secure cash and valuables.

• Record serial numbers.

• Turn alarm systems on (in several of the burglaries, there were alarm systems in place, but they weren’t used).

• Lock car doors.

• Be observant and take down license-plate numbers of suspicious vehicles.

• If you see something suspicious, call 911.

• Do not confront the individuals.

• Remember that it is illegal to solicit door to door in the city and in the parish.

In 2012, there were 1,800 burglaries in the city limits.

“This particular ring we feel was hitting south of 210, but we’ve got burglaries all over this city,” Dixon said. “Burglaries are a huge problem; property crimes are a huge problem for us. We’re asking people to be diligent.”burglaries-up