Crime Report: Early days of spring marred by home burglaries

March 20

Mail theft: 4400 block of La Granada Way. A deputy went to a house on the block to advise the resident that mail belonging to him had been found a few blocks away, along with mail with another person’s name on it. One of the items stolen from the man’s mailbox had been a package from Amazon.

The torn-open package was empty; the victim said he had ordered a paperback history book that was supposed to have been delivered March 17. He said the last time he had checked his mailbox was at about 6:30 p.m. on March 16.

March 28

Petty theft: 700 block of Galaxy Heights Drive. A woman reported that between 3 p.m. March 6 and 3:30 p.m. March 25, someone — she suspects her ex-boyfriend — stole miscellaneous pages from a government appointment book containing passwords to various accounts, and a Bank of America checkbook. There were no signs of forced entry.

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March 31

Burglary: 1200 block of Journey’s End Drive. A man reported that on returning to his home March 31 with his family after a brief vacation, he could see immediately on entering the garage that cabinets usually left closed were open. When he went into the home and checked each room, he found several of them had been ransacked.

In the master bedroom, a rear sliding-glass door had been shattered with a blunt object, as had a window next to it. The home’s front door, which the victim had locked before leaving town, was found closed but unlocked.

On a walk through with a responding deputy, the victim could not immediately identify what might have been stolen.

April 1

Burglary: 1100 block of Inverness Drive. A man reported that he and his family left their home at about 5:30 p.m. and returned to it at 9 p.m. He told a responding deputy that when they left the home, it had been secured except for a bathroom window that had been left open.

Arriving home, the family discovered that some bedrooms had been ransacked, but the master bedroom, the entertainment room and other common areas appeared to have been untouched.

In order to gain access, someone had removed the screen from the bathroom window that had been left open.

The victim could not immediately identify what might have been stolen.

Burglary: 4400 block of Commonwealth Avenue. A man reported that while he and his wife were out of their home from about 5:45 p.m. to 10 p.m., someone burglarized their property. On first reentering it, they could see items had been taken out of the laundry room’s cabinets and thrown on the floor. At that point, they exited the house and called for law enforcement assistance.

The responding deputy walked through the home and saw that numerous drawers were open. In the master bedroom, a window was open and its blinds were bent. Outside that window, which the man said is always kept open, was a white plastic chair that appeared to have a partial footprint on it.

The victims walked through the home but did not see that anything was missing; nor did they see any damage.

April 2

Burglary: 5200 block of La Cañada Boulevard. A woman reported that she and her family had left home for a vacation at about 1 p.m. on March 29. Shortly before 10 p.m. that date, she was notified by her alarm company that there had been two separate motion detector activations inside the home and she was asked if she wanted a response.

Thinking the family cat might have triggered the detectors, the victim declined the response. Then, when the family returned home at 5:15 p.m. on April 2, they found a rear window had been shattered and the master bedroom had been ransacked. Some fine jewelry pieces as well as some costume jewelry items were missing.

A surveillance camera mounted near the front door captured images of a dark, four-door vehicle stopping in front of the residence at about 8:53 p.m. March 29. Three males dressed in hoodies, sweatpants and wearing gloves got out of the car and approached the front door before walking toward the rear of the residence and out of the camera’s view. There were no images of them leaving the property later.

Compiled by Carol Cormaci.