Crime Report: Rented wood chipper stolen; Stolen Social Security number used for employment, cable TV

La Cañada Flintridge

July 11

Robbery, strong arm: La Cañada Crest Drive at Rockland Place. A man had parked his vehicle on the corner by his house the night before. At 5:30 a.m., he left his home on the 2100 block of La Cañada Crest to take a walk and was holding his white Samsung Galaxy cellphone in his left hand. As he walked toward his vehicle, an unknown man of about 15 to 21 years of age, about 5 feet 8, of a thin build and wearing a light-colored hooded sweatshirt, grabbed the phone out of the victim’s hand and ran westbound on Rockland Place and out of view. The suspect did not say anything to the victim, who did not struggle during the incident as, he told deputies, he did not fear the suspect.

July 12

Grand theft: 5200 block of Vista Miguel Drive. A man went to a vacant lot at around 6:45 a.m. that day to finish clearing up some wood branches with a rented wood chipper. He was working in the northwest corner of the property about 500 feet away from the street. The man took a break from 8:30 to 9 a.m., walking back to his vehicle to get a soda. When he returned to the lot, someone had taken the wood chipper. He told deputies someone would have had to have a vehicle with a trailer tow hitch, due to the size of the chipper. A crime broadcast was issued by radio, but nothing was discovered. The rental company could not be notified because it was closed on Sundays. An informant later called the Crescenta Valley Sheriff’s Station to report a wood chipper was sitting in front of the same rental company from which it had been rented. It’s ownership could not be verified at the time of the report.

July 13

Attempted shoplifting: 521 Foothill Blvd. A store employee told deputies at around 7:50 p.m., he observed two males, who appeared to be in their 20s, walking past the cash registers at Ralphs with a shopping cart full of items. When the employee asked if he could ring up their items, they quickly exited the store. The man followed them outside and saw them enter a red Ford Expedition before driving out of the parking lot and out of view. After returning to the store, the employee learned another attempted robbery, with similar suspect and vehicle description, had taken place earlier at a Mission Hills Ralphs. He examined the abandoned shopping cart and saw six four-packs of Red Bull energy drinks, six Dove soap products and two Axe body products. Video surveillance was not available at the time, but the employee said someone at the store would provide it to deputies.

Identity theft: 100 block of Normandy Court. On Jan. 8, a woman was notified by Southwestern University that her Social Security number had been used to file an employee electronic tax filing for the 2009 tax year. The university had mailed her a copy of her personal income tax earnings as the filer. The woman told a representative she was not an employee of the school and had never filed the taxes. On July 6, when the woman called Comcast to inquire about her cable service, and was asked to provide a Social Security number as a form of ID, she was told there was two accounts under the same number. The second one belonged to someone living in Citrus Heights in Sacramento County. The Comcast representative advised the woman to file a police report to initiate a fraud investigation

La Crescenta/Montrose

July 10

Burglary, vehicle: 2300 block of Florencita Avenue. A woman parked her 2008 Toyota Scion in the southwest corner of the parking structure underneath her apartment building at 10:30 p.m. the day before. She told deputies she believed she secured the vehicle, but her keyless entry alarm system is not working properly. When the woman returned at around 11:50 a.m. that day she noticed someone had entered the vehicle and ransacked its interior, stealing a gray imitation snakeskin wallet, miscellaneous change, two gift cards and three compact discs. A deputy observed a 2-inch scratch to the right of the driver’s side door handle that the victim had not noticed from before, as well as several strewn handbags in the rear of the vehicle that had previously been neatly tucked inside a single bag.