Man caught on camera burglarizing La Cañada church and nearby cars makes off with cash, purse and diabetic kit
Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department officials are seeking the public’s help in identifying a man who broke into a La Cañada church on May 27 and stole $200 before heading out to a nearby parking lot and burglarizing two vehicles.
The incident took place while an event was being held at St. Bede the Venerable Catholic Church, according to Det. Rodger Burt with the Crescenta Valley Sheriff’s Station, and was called in by staff members of the church.
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“They’d seen the kitchen had been broken into, then they saw money was missing from the office,” Burt said Wednesday.
Images of the suspect — described as a bald black male, about 5 feet, 9 inches tall and weighing between 230 and 250 pounds, wearing a blue shirt, jeans and blue shoes and black, square-rimmed glasses — were captured surveillance cameras inside the church and near the parking lot, the detective added.
After leaving the church, the suspect headed to the nearby Flintridge Preparatory School parking lot, where he smashed open the windows of two vehicles with a rock. The owner of a 2009 GMC Acadia told deputies he came back from an event at the church to find pieces of window glass on the ground and inside the vehicle.
A tan canvas bag, containing an Accucheck diabetic kit with insulin reader and pump, a pair of prescription reading glasses and a sunglasses case were taken in the incident. He also reported a key ring and a partial copy of his wife’s Visa card had been stolen.
At around the same time, a second victim reported someone had shattered the driver’s side rear window of his 2008 Range Rover, stealing his wife’s purse from inside.
The victim said a locator service indicated his wife’s phone was “pinging” at a residence on the 4400 block of Oakwood Avenue. The deputies went with the victim to that location and knocked on the door, only to discover the phone laying face down in a pile of bushes in the backyard.
The suspect was seen on video driving a mid-2000s white Chevrolet Malibu. Anyone with information about the incidents or the suspect is asked to contact Det. Rodger Burt at (818) 236-4014.
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Sara Cardine, sara.cardine@latimes.com
Twitter: @SaraCardine
