Crime Report: Daughter playing in backyard alerts mother to a stranger after startling attempted burglary suspect
Sept. 25
Identity theft: 4500 block of Viro Road. A man reported receiving a notice from the Citibank fraud department advising him that he needed an actual phone bill, as opposed to a copy of the bill, to complete an application for credit he never submitted. He immediately contacted the three major credit bureaus and was advised to contact the IRS.
No other fraudulent activity was discovered, but the man did report later that while taking his son to football practice, he noticed all the mailboxes in his neighborhood had been opened and mail was scattered on the ground.
Sept. 26
Identity theft: 4900 block of Hampton Road. A man was contacted on Sept. 12 by American Express regarding an application submitted using his name and Social Security number. Thinking of a replacement card he’d recently requested, he confirmed the application’s valid.
On Sept. 21, the man received a call from the UPS store in Montrose informing him a package was there waiting to be picked up. He arrived and was told by an employee this was the third of such deliveries made to his name, and that a black male adult had picked up two earlier packages containing computers from Microsoft.
The victim checked his credit report and saw fraudulent accounts had been opened in his name through Citibank and American Express.
On Sept. 24, the man got a letter from the Postal Service confirming a recent change of address request, though he’d never made such a request. He filed a report, believing the suspect was attempting to have merchandise sent directly to a separate address.
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Identity theft: 4300 block of Fairlawn Drive. A woman was reviewing her credit history on Aug. 22 when she noticed a loan debt from SunTrust Mortgage that she had never authorized. When she attempted to call the company, she was unable to reach a representative.
The victim told deputies an online website listed indicated the company does not exist. No other fraudulent activity was reported.
Sept. 27
Petty theft, unlocked vehicle: 200 block of Inverness Drive. A man reported that sometime between 10:30 p.m. the day before and 4:30 a.m. that day, someone entered his unlocked 2015 Volkswagen Golf while it was parked in his open garage and moved a black backpack from the passenger’s seat to the driver’s seat.
He noticed his wallet, containing cash and three credit cards, had been stolen from the driver’s side door pocket. The victim immediately checked other vehicles on the property and saw his unlocked 2016 Dodge Ram 2500 had been ransacked, but nothing taken from inside.
Attempted burglary, residence: 500 block of Haverstock Road. A woman said on Sept. 25 at around 2:25 p.m., three unknown persons walked up to her property and attempted to enter the residence while she was inside with her children.
One suspect tried to enter through the sliding glass door of a bedroom while another tried the home’s front door. Both were locked. The second suspect entered the backyard and was startled by the victim’s daughter, who was playing outside.
When that suspect fled, the other two, who were out on the front driveway, became alerted. The child went back in the house and told her mother she saw a stranger wearing a black sweater, scarf, gloves and long pants in the backyard.
Remembering a previous burglary eight years earlier, the woman checked outside but did not see or hear anything unusual. She didn’t notify the sheriff’s department at first, because she wasn’t sure what her daughter had seen and didn’t want to be “a bother.” But while later checking a video surveillance system, the woman saw three unknown males wearing hooded sweatshirts, sweatpants, sunglasses and gloves try to enter her residence, so she called the authorities.
Deputies reviewed the footage and saw one man wearing a dark blue Michael Jordan hoodie fumbling around the sliding glass door before signaling to a second man, whose sweatshirt had a Chanel-type print around the wrists. A third suspect seemed to act as a lookout for vehicles. The hoods of their sweatshirts were closed up tight around their faces to obscure them, deputies noted.
Their attempt to break in seems to have been thwarted by the encounter with the victim’s daughter. When interviewed, neighbors said Haverstock is a problem street and that residents have frequent concerns about suspicious persons and unknown vehicles parking at the street’s dead-end.
Petty theft, vehicle: 200 block of Inverness Drive. A woman was leaving home for school at around 7 a.m. when she noticed items inside her 2016 Honda CRV were not as she’d left them. The center console and glove compartment had been opened and items inside scattered around.
Video surveillance showed two adult males wearing hoodies enter the driveway. One covered a camera with his sleeve while the other entered the unlocked vehicle and possibly removed concealable items from inside. The two suspects then walked down the driveway and out of view.
The victim did not know what, if anything, was taken from the vehicle. A black SUV was seen on camera parked by the driveway at around 6:30 a.m. the day before the incident, deputies observed.
Identity theft: 4400 block of Oakwood Avenue. A man told deputies he was notified by Barclay’s Bank on Sept. 23 that additional information would be needed to complete a recent credit application of which he had no previous knowledge. He called the bank and stopped the process, placing a 90-day fraud alert on his credit.
While reviewing his credit report, he saw two credit applications had been made online. No money had been taken, as the credit applications could not be completed. He was advised to contact the IRS about his Social Security number being used.
Sept. 30
Burglary, business: 900 block of Foothill Boulevard. Deputies responded to an alarm activation call at 5:06 a.m. and noticed the business’ front door had been pried and cracked open.
The area was cleared, and no suspects were located. The manager’s office door was ajar and deputies observed numerous rolls of coins on the floor. The middle drawer of a filing cabinet had been pried open to the right of the doorway and a storage cabinet behind the manager’s office chair had been opened.
A representative of the business said cash had been kept in the drawer for the purpose of making change. The front host’s podium and bar area cash registers were left untouched.
The employee said the business had been burglarized eight months earlier. Surveillance footage was found but could not be accessed at the time.
Burglary, residence: 5200 block of Donna Maria Lane. A woman left her home at around 2 p.m. to run errands. When she returned at around 9:25 that night, she entered her living room and saw a sliding glass door had been smashed and her entire residence ransacked. The victim told deputies she didn’t believe anything was missing but needed to take inventory to be sure.
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Sara Cardine, sara.cardine@latimes.com
Twitter: @SaraCardine
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