Crime Report: Catalytic converter stolen from car left in church parking lot

La Cañada Flintridge

June 29

Petty theft, catalytic converter: 100 block of Berkshire Place. A woman left her 2005 Honda Element parked in the lot of La Cañada United Methodist church at 8:20 a.m. that day. When she returned at 5:30 p.m. and started the vehicle, she heard a loud exhaust noise. Her husband examined the vehicle and noticed its catalytic converter had been cut out and removed.

June 30

Burglary, residence: 1500 block of Sugar Loaf Drive. A woman secured and left her home at around 2:30 p.m. When she returned at 5:30 p.m., she noticed the front door was ajar. She walked in and initially found nothing amiss until she entered her master bedroom and saw it had been ransacked. A jewelry box containing costume jewelry was one the floor and had been rummaged through and several pieces of jewelry, including four gold necklaces and a diamond ring, had been stolen. The point of entry was determined to be the front gate and door, although there was no signs of forced entry. Fingerprints were ordered. No witnesses could be found, but a neighbor told deputies a power outage on the street from 2:30 to 5:30 p.m. caused his video surveillance to be non-operational.

July 2

Vandalism; petty theft: 5500 Godbey Drive. A manager at the La Cañada Flintridge Country Club reported to deputies that sometime between 11 p.m. the night before and 5 a.m. that day, someone stole three parking lot light fixtures and drove a vehicle onto the east golf course fairway, causing 2,000 square feet of tire track damage to the turf. No video surveillance or witnesses could be located. Photographs were taken, and deputies noted the club’s ownership was desirous of prosecution.

July 3

Vandalism: 4300 block of Beulah Drive. A man flagged down deputies to report that sometime between midnight on June 10 and 5:30 p.m. July 1, while he was away on vacation, someone had pelted his 2011 Audi A4 with several eggs that had permanently stained the vehicle’s exterior. The deputies observed broken egg shells all over the hood and roof of the car. No witnesses to the crime could be located.

Vandalism: 4300 block of Cobblestone Lane. A man parked his 2013 Toyota Corolla in front of his home at around 5 p.m. the day before. When he came outside the next day at around 5 p.m., he noticed the driver’s side window had been shattered, although nothing appeared to be missing.

July 5

Vandalism, 4100 block of Crown Way. A woman told deputies that sometime between 5:30 p.m. July 1 and 6:30 a.m. July 2, someone slashed the rear driver’s side tire of her 2015 Toyota Prius while it was parked in front of her residence. The damage could not be observed as the victim had already replaced the tire by the time of the report.

La Crescenta

July 1

Burglary, residence: 2400 block of Rockdell Street. A man told deputies that when his wife entered their detached guest house at 6 a.m. that day, she saw a storage room door was opened. She called her husband, who found that three mountain bikes and three chain saws had been stolen from inside the guest house. A screen door was open and a padlock securing the northeast storage room door had been cut. The victim remembered closing a pedestrian gate in the front of his home before he went to bed the night before, but observed it was open. The padlock, which had been left behind, appeared to have been cut open with bolt cutters. The screen door and gate were determined to be the point of exit.

Petty theft, unlocked vehicle: 2600 block of Foothill Boulevard. A woman left her unlocked 2007 Volkswagen Jetta in a nearby parking area at around 7 a.m. for about an hour while she cleaned an office on the property. When she returned to the car, she noticed someone had stolen her black leather purse, containing a wallet, cash and a checkbook. Surveillance footage taken by a nearby office showed a male Hispanic, appearing to be in his 20s with short hair, wearing a long-sleeved black and white plaid shirt and gloves, walking toward the car from the building’s south side. He opened the driver’s door, removed the purse and fled north out of the camera’s view. The suspect had entered the lot by jumping over a security gate on the west side. He is thought to have exited the same way.

July 2

Petty theft, unlocked vehicle: 2700 block of El Caminito Street. A woman told deputies at approximately 12:30 a.m., she was awakened by a noise outside her home. Shortly after that, a neighbor called her and said his dog barking had alerted him to someone walking down the street. When he looked outside, he saw a man rummaging through the victim’s 1995 Toyota Avalon. The neighbor then ran outside to confront the suspect, who ran to his vehicle and drove eastbound and out of view. The victim said she had left her rear passenger window open, providing access to the vehicle. The neighbor was not home at the time of the report, and no video surveillance could be located.

Theft of U.S. mail: 3100 block of Santa Carlotta Street. A woman had ordered clothing from the Banana Republic and was expecting delivery on July 1, but never received the package. When she called the company the following day, she learned the package had been left on her front porch at 11:30 a.m. the previous day. Shortly thereafter, a next door neighbor showed her footage of a possible suspect his security camera had captured at 1:55 p.m. the day of the delivery. It showed an obese brunette woman of unspecified ethnicity, appearing to be in her 30s and wearing jeans shorts and a multicolored top. A copy of the footage was given to deputies. She was seen leaving the porch area carrying a package under her left arm.

July 4

Petty theft, unlocked vehicle: 2500 block of Whittier Drive. A man told deputies that sometime between midnight and 8:15 a.m. that day, someone entered the 2012 Toyota Prius he thought he’d secured while it was parked in front of his residence and stolen a pair of Ray-Ban sunglasses, two pairs of Zeiss brand prescription glasses and one silver pocketknife from inside the vehicle. The victim noticed the hood had been popped open and the interior ransacked. Deputies did not see any signs of forced entry. No witnesses could be located and fingerprints could not be ordered because the victim had contaminated the scene, the reporting deputy noted.