Crime Report: Audio equipment stolen from La Crescenta church
La Cañada Flintridge
Oct. 1
Grand theft: 5200 block of Palm Drive. A woman reported that sometime during the month of July, while she was out of the country, someone had taken two pairs of antique porcelain figurines from a collection in her home as well as a pair of boots and a designer necklace.
The woman asked her husband, who’d stayed in the residence while she was away, if he’d taken the items but he said no and indicated no one had been to the house while she was gone.
Deputies observed no evidence of forced entry, and the victim acknowledged a friend or guest may have taken the items.
Oct. 2
Trespassing: 500 block of Paulette Place. Deputies responded to an attempted burglary call, in which they were advised that a silver Saturn possibly belonging to the suspect had left the location in an unknown direction.
A caregiver at the home, whose owner suffers from Alzheimer’s disease and is non-verbal, told deputies at around 11:15 p.m., she’d decided to move her car from the north curb to the driveway when she saw a 1990s silver or gold sedan parked directly in front of the residence. A woman sat in the driver’s seat, she recalled.
After making a U-turn and entering the driveway, the caregiver saw to tall males wearing dark hooded sweatshirts and black pants run from the east side of the garage, past her car and enter the sedan.
The car drove at a high rate of speed east on Paulette and out of view.
Oct. 4
Grand theft; forgery (checks): 4200 block of Oakwood Avenue. At 2 p.m. the day before, a man was checking his Bank of America account online when he noticed seven checks had been cashed from Aug. 21 to Sept. 29 using his forged signature.
The man said in early August, he’d ordered 200 checks from the bank that were supposed to be delivered by mail to his home but had never received them.
He told deputies his mail box is locked and never appeared to have been tampered with. All the checks were deposited into a bank account under the Hanmi Bank Fashion District branch.
A phone number written on the back of the cashed checks was determined to be invalid.
Oct. 5
Identity theft: 4900 block of Viro Road. A woman received a letter on Aug. 17 from a credit company advising her of a denial of credit, although she’d never applied for a line of credit there.
A representative of the company told her a few months ago, an unknown person applied for and obtained credit there and made some purchases online. The victim immediately closed the account.
She told deputies she’d received another letter from a different credit company denying her access to a line of credit.
La Crescenta
Sept. 30
Burglary, vehicle: 2700 block of Altura Avenue. A man told deputies he’d parked his locked 2010 Chevrolet Suburban on the street across from his home at 7 p.m. the night before.When he returned to the vehicle at 6 a.m. that day, he noticed it was unlocked and had been ransacked.
The third row back seat was missing, the victim reported, and a cellphone, laptop, GPS and a black leather jacket had been stolen. An unspecified amount of cash had also been taken.
Deputies did not see any sign of forced entry, believing the suspect may have used an electronic device or master key to gain entry into the vehicle as the victim’s alarm never sounded.
Oct. 1
Burglary, residence: 2800 block of Altura Avenue. A woman told deputies she locked her residence, with the exception of one north side kitchen window, and left for work at around 7 a.m. When she returned home at around 4 p.m., a neighbor told her that her dog was out roaming the neighborhood.
The woman then entered her house and noticed the screen of the one open window had been slashed open. The entire residence had been ransacked, and the victim reported several pieces of miscellaneous jewelry, a brown shoulder bag with a picture of an eagle on it and an unspecified amount of cash had been taken.
Deputies observed two empty jewelry boxes on the victim’s bed as well as faint shoe prints in the master bedroom possibly left by the suspect. The window was determined to be the point of entry; deputies believed the suspect likely exited the front door, allowing the dog to escape.
One neighbor reported seeing a male wearing a light green T-shirt and blue jeans walking west on Altura at around 12:30 p.m.
Oct. 2
Burglary, residence: 2600 block of Mountain Pine Drive. A woman told deputies she was asleep in her upstairs bedroom at around 11:40 p.m. when she heard her front door slam shut. She went downstairs to the living room and saw a sliding glass door in a guest room was open and the door had been smashed.
She looked around and saw several drawers had been opened but nothing appeared to be missing. The victim told deputies her home has an alarm but that it was off at the time.
The sliding glass door was determined to be the point of entry, while the suspect was believed to have exited through the front door. Deputies observed a cabinet in the bathroom by the guest room had been cracked.
Petty theft, auto accessories: 3000 block of Highridge Road. A woman reported that sometime between 7:15 and 8:30 a.m. that day, someone stole the cover off her 1965 Ford Thunderbird as it was parked in her driveway, while she was away at the gym.
The victim said the car has been parked in her driveway for a couple of years and that she was soon due to sell it. She said she believed someone may have been wanting to steal the car.
A neighbor who’d been walking his dog at 8:30 a.m. said he saw the uncovered car, but did not see anything suspicious.
Oct. 4
Burglary, 4441 La Crescenta Ave. An informant at the Christ Armenian Church told deputies that sometime between the afternoon of Sept. 27 and 7:45 a.m. that day, someone took an in-ear monitor used for audio purposes from inside the church.
The monitors had been kept in an unlocked storage area behind the stage, for use by performers doing musical acts.
Deputies observed numerous keyboards and other instruments in the area. The informant said the suspect most likely knew the purpose of the devices, as they were among the more familiar and valuable items.
Many people and groups use the church, but only one group uses the location’s sound stage, the informant added. No video surveillance footage of that particular area of the church was available.
Oct. 5
Possession of a controlled substance; receiving stolen property; shoplifting: 2600 block of Foothill Boulevard. Deputies responded to a petty theft call at an area business and saw the suspect trying to leave the store when they arrived.
A loss prevention officer said he’d seen the man, a 45-year-old white male, steal several bicycle accessories and place them into his backpack.
Among the items taken were an LED spoke light, a bike headlight, a key chain, tire tubes and a 9-inch touch-screen tablet device. Deputies searched the pack which, the suspect admitted, contained a knife and eight different coffee containers, possibly from another store.
Video surveillance showed the man enter the store and place several items in his bag. The man was also found with a small plastic bag containing a white substance resembling methamphetamine.
He told deputies he is a heroin addict and has drug problems, and admitted the substance in the bag was meth. He was arrested and booked at the sheriff’s station.
Montrose
Oct. 2
Public nuisance: 3900 block of Ocean View. A man called the Crescenta Valley Sheriff’s Station at around 5:25 a.m. after he witnessed an unknown male defecate in a mop bucket behind his office building.
The man indicated a similar incident had occurred a few months earlier. A woman at the location said she reviewed surveillance footage of the incident, which verified what had occurred. Deputies observed from the footage a possibly Hispanic male in his 30s, wearing a shirt and jeans, remove his pants and squat over the bucket.
The deputies went to the rear of the building and, seeing a mop bucket containing a paper towel and what appeared to be human excrement, photographed the scene for evidence.