Police Display Offers Burglary Victims a Golden Opportunity

The table tops sparkled as if they bore the fruits of a jewelry lover’s shopping spree. An array of gold necklaces, bracelets, wedding bands and other personal items were waiting to be claimed by their owners.

From 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday, people visited the second floor conference room at Santa Ana City Hall and inspected about $8,000 in personal--and, police think, stolen--valuables.

But none of the 40 people who viewed the items claimed the AE-1 35-millimeter camera. No one took home the Empire binoculars, Gucci watch or lion-head ring with diamond eyes and a ruby mouth, said Dennis Sebastianelli, burglary investigator with the Santa Ana Police Department.

The goods will be shown again from 6 to 9 p.m. today at the police annex building, 23 Civic Center Plaza. More people are expected because the showing is after regular work hours, Sebastianelli said.

Police believe that the items were stolen from Santa Ana homes between Nov. 13, 1986, and Feb. 25 and sold to three Santa Ana pawnshops, he said.

4 Sets of Rings Pawned

Sebastianelli declined to give the names of two male suspects in the thefts because they are “going through the (legal) system.”

“One guy pawned four sets of wedding rings, and you know nobody has that many wedding rings,” he said.

A person must present a copy of the police report before he or she can recover an item. The owner can pay the pawnbroker or file a declaration of ownership, which means the item is his, he wants it and does not intend to pay the pawnbroker, Sebastianelli said.

The courts then decide if the owner must pay the pawnbroker, he said, adding that the courts “usually decide with the victim.”

Unclaimed items will be returned to the pawnshops, he said. “Luckily, we have excellent cooperation with the pawnshops.”

Bruce Fisher of Garden Grove, who said more than $12,000 in watches, rings, necklaces and other jewelry was stolen from his home on Jan. 2, found nothing that belonged to him.

“Twenty years of stuff” was stolen, he said.

But most people were looking for items with more sentimental than dollar value, said police spokeswoman Maureen Thomas. “It seems like the things that are the most precious to people aren’t always the most expensive.”