Man Arrested in Westminster as an Apartment Burglary Suspect

Police on foot patrol inside a Westminster apartment complex--part of a neighborhood of apartments where 43 burglaries have been reported this year--arrested a 44-year-old man on suspicion of burglary Friday.

Clifton Delawrence Tallaferro of Los Angeles was arrested after police found him hiding on a patio in the Cinnamon Creek apartments in the 15100 block of Brookhurst Street, Crime Prevention Officer Bob Amren said.

Two police officers were patrolling the apartment complex about 3:50 a.m. when they noticed a ground-floor window ajar with its screen removed, Amren said. When the officers knocked at the apartment’s front door a man inside wearing a ski mask darted across the hall and fled through a sliding glass door in the rear, Amren said.

Police searched the complex for 15 minutes and found Tallaferro hiding on an outdoor patio, Amren said. He was being held in Orange County Jail in lieu of $25,000 bail.

Amren said there have been 21 burglaries reported this year in the 492-unit Cinnamon Creek apartment complex and 14 reported in the 240-unit Tres Vidas apartments, also located in the 15100 block of Brookhurst Street. Another eight burglaries have been reported in the 186-unit Windmill apartments, located nearby in the 15400 block of Belgrade Street, he said.

Several residents in the area said they were aware of the high number of burglaries. Cinnamon Creek resident Christina Jeran said, “We’re afraid to go away overnight because when we come back, who knows what will be left?”

Amren said the apartments’ management had been helpful in attempting to solve the problem. But because of the turnover in apartment residents, “people don’t recognize their neighbors,” he said.

Jeran agreed. “People are always parked in the red zone. You see people moving stuff in and out, and you wonder if they’re moving out or if they’re stealing something.”

Marlene Berry, vice president of the company that owns the Tres Vidas and Windmill apartments, Thoner and Birmingham Realty Services Inc., said she would consider adding a nightly foot patrol to both complexes. Both complexes have security gates and are patrolled by a security service.