Monday, January 18, 2016

Vehicle Break-ins, Burlgary, Car Theft

A car was broken into last night some time after 9:30 PM on Stuppi Way.  The registration and garage door opener were stolen.  As a quick reminder, don't leave anything important in a car parked on the street or in a driveway.

On Watson Street a car was stolen overnight Friday night or very early Saturday morning.  This was an older Honda Civic.  The car wasn't terribly valuable, but the paperwork inside was important to the owners.  If you see the car, the owners are more worried about the paperwork, though of course the car would be nice to have returned as well.

Not that Stuppi and Watson have a common feature:  Both are fairly short streets with easy access to a major street (El Camino and Eastern).

Update:  Stuppi wasn't the only incident that night:  neighbors on Birgit and Stuppi had their car broken into.  The ignition switch was mangled, so it appears it was an amateur attempt to steal the car.

Also, another neighbor on Birgit had a vehicle break-in in November, and they stole their Christmas lights from the front yard.

We also have some older incidents I thought I'd posted that would indicate a pattern of vehicle burglaries.  From Chuck:

12-10-2015
A resident in the 2500 block of Cambon told me today that 5 vehicles were burglarized on that block last night as well as at least one on Catalina.  Electronics and stereos weren't taken and there was no apparent damage to the vehicles.

Editor's note:  Lock your vehicle.  Chuck doesn't say here, but if electronics weren't the target, paperwork likely was.  A garage door opener provides quick access to your home when you're not there as well.
The resident on Cambon also witnessed a vehicle burglary on Lusk involving a white female adult and a black male adult riding bicycles.  Apparently they camp out, behind the goodwill on Watt Avenue.  The resident called the sheriff and the thieves didn't seem to be bothered that they were being watched.
If you aren't connected to nextdoor (Chuck, what's Nextdoor?  Sounds like we should be connected), there was a prowler (possible burglar) on Borica, on Monday the 7th.   A dog alerted the resident, the sheriff was called and "star" (sheriff's helicopter) responded.  We don't know if the suspect was caught.
A residential burglary occurred on November 2nd on Becerra at Marconi, sometime during the hours of noon, and 4:15 pm.  The burglars were in the house long enough to go through everything, and had loaded a big screen tv into the trunk of the car and tried to steal both, but for an unknown reason abandoned both in the flowerbed.  They gained access to the house thru an open bathroom window.  The dental office across the street has cameras pointing that direction and the Sheriff's Department burglary unit was given that information, but to date has not acted on it.   I am trying to get a download of that 4 hour period to see if  someone looks familiar.

There was an attempted burglary in the 3700 block of Kings Way, on Nov 15 at 10:06 am.  The suspect kicked in the back door, setting off the home alarm.  The suspect fled.

I have an unconfirmed report that a residential burglary occurred on Ione St, south of El Camino in which a suspect or suspects kicked a door in and stole firearms.. (it isn't on the crime reports website)

Despite the holidays being over, be sure to call the Sheriff's Department if you see any suspicious activity.  The more report, the more they patrol our area even if they don't seem to act on a given report.  More police cars mean fewer burglars.