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Woman nabs burglar with mobile surveillance app Thursday Oct 27, 2016 at 5:44 PM Oct 27, 2016 at 5:44 PM Vickie Aldous for the Tidings @VickieAldous Nancy Buffington was at a car dealership in downtown Medford getting her oil changed when her phone alerted her a man was burglarizing her Ashland home. The alert was the culmination of a carefully laid plan and detective work on Buffington's part after she grew suspicious that an employee of her Cascade Shuttle taxi company was repeatedly entering her house and stealing money. She said she previously filed a police report about her suspicions but wanted evidence of a crime. Buffington said she set up motion-activated home surveillance video cameras and downloaded an app to her phone to alert her if someone moved inside her house. A caregiver to her elderly mother, Buffington wanted to keep an eye on her mom to make sure she was safe, but also hoped to solve the mystery of disappearing cash from her house. On Oct. 18, Buffington sent a text, which she knew a suspected employee would see, saying she would be out of her house that day. Her mother was also away at adult daycare. Buffington marked cash with her initials and recorded the serial numbers of the bills she left at her home. "I was hopeful he would make a move on my house," she said. Buffington then headed to the Toyota dealership in Medford — where she received the alert via her phone. Several Toyota employees gathered around to watch with Buffington as her phone showed a man prowling through the rooms of her house, she said. "We watched him in my house — me and everyone at the service counter at Toyota. I called the police," Buffington said. She said the video showed the man taking money, and then putting some of the cash back, as if he didn't want her to notice too much money missing at once. "You see him take money and put some back, like he's thinking, 'I'd better not take so much.' He went into my house at will and took what he wanted," Buffington said. "It shows he has been in my house multiple times." After the man left her house, police were able to use a vehicle description to spot the suspect's car on I-5 near Ashland. They apprehended him within minutes, according to Buffington and a probable cause affidavit by the Jackson County Sheriff's Office. Robert William Doctor, 49, of the 2200 block of Highway 99 outside Ashland was arrested on charges of first-degree burglary and third-degree theft. He was taken to the Jackson County Jail and later released on his own recognizance. Doctor entered not guilty pleas to the charges Thursday and has a pre-trial hearing scheduled for Nov. 28 in Jackson County Circuit Court. Buffington said she had suspected Doctor, one of her employees, was the person stealing from her home. Doctor told police he had gone to Buffington's house to retrieve money she owed him. When police confronted him with the surveillance video, he allegedly admitted he entered her home and stole $20. Doctor allegedly said he had a drug problem and had stolen the money to buy drugs that night in Medford, the affidavit said. "The cameras were vital," Buffington said. "The police said I did good work. I was bound and determined I was going to catch whoever was in my house. I was determined I was going to catch who did it. I didn't want to confront him — I wanted to catch him." — Reach staff reporter Vickie Aldous at 541-776-4486 or [email protected]. Follow her at www.twitter.com/VickieAldous.