Toddler used as decoy in burglaries

They all thought they were helping a woman and her child, but Sanford police say the woman duped them.

Police said Megan Phillippi, 20, cried wolf.
    
They said she knocked on four of her neighbors’ doors with a sob story.

Twice she used her toddler to get into their houses.

"She asked me ‘help, I need help. My car’s overheating. My baby's suffocating,’" said Eddie Avila, a victim.

But Phillippi didn't need to use the phone or the bathroom like she asked the unsuspecting victims.
    
Instead, they said she stole from them.

"I went into my room and I noticed that my jewelry box was open and everything was gone," Avila said.

He said she stole more than $7,000 worth of his wife's jewelry.    
    
From another home, police said Phillippi took a diamond wedding band.
   
She didn't take anything of value from another victim, who did not want to be identified. But Phillippi did cause great fear in all of them. They all suspected she would come back to rob them.

"I'm nervous. I sleep armed. I can't sleep," the unidentified victim said.

Phillippi was arrested Wednesday afternoon.

Now these neighbors said they can sleep tonight.

"I'm glad that she's caught,” Avila said. “She does not belong to be out on the streets, and I want my things back. Everything back.”

"You feel stupid at first and you just wish the world wouldn't be that way," the unidentified victim said.

Phillippi is facing burglary charges and is in the Seminole County Jail.

Her toddler is with a family member.