Garden Grove : Two Youths Arrested in Rash of Car Burglaries

Two youths were arrested early Sunday on suspicion of breaking into at least five cars and stealing items ranging from a car stereo to side-view mirrors, police said.

Police Lt. David Abrecht said the boys, ages 14 and 15, were arrested by waiting patrol officers as they climbed through a hole in a parking lot wall in the 13000 block of Bowen Street at 2:20 a.m.

Abrecht said that, because of a rash of recent car burglaries in the neighborhood, the officers had been on “priority patrol” in the area when a resident reported seeing suspicious youths “going in and out of a couple of cars.”

Officers Mark Swanson and Randy Adams were waiting when the pair came through the the wall, carrying a small ice chest containing a Sony cassette-radio, a car stereo speaker, side-view mirrors, a digital clock and knobs from various stereo units.

Both were booked into Orange County Juvenile Hall on suspicion of burglary. Abrecht said the boys, whose names were withheld because of their ages, were also under investigation of break-ins at a nearby car lot.