Local News in Brief : South County : Recovered Property Checked Against Thefts
The Orange County Sheriff’s Department continued Friday to sift through $20,000 worth of what they say is stolen merchandise in a bid to match the items with those taken during a recent rash of south county burglaries.
Thus far the investigation has linked the property with 12 burglaries in El Toro, Mission Viejo and the Saddleback Valley region, Sheriff’s Lt. Bob Rivas said.
Five teen-age suspects were arrested Wednesday in two El Toro apartments, where deputies said they found stolen jewelry, TVs and stereos, as well as walkie-talkies, locksmithing tools and handguns.
Rivas said he expects the investigation to link the recovered items with more south county burglaries. He said that it may be months before people can recover the stolen property but that investigators have had “good success” in matching items with police reports.
Once the cases are solved, the property that has been identified will be returned to the owners. The remaining property will be displayed for others to claim by either producing copies of police reports or receipts with serial numbers of the stolen items.
“It’s premature at this time. I’m sure people are going to be calling us, but we aren’t going to be able to do anything for them right now,” Rivas said.
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