Burglary Prompts Outpouring of Food

Leaders of a Los Angeles food distribution agency said Friday that their shelves have been replenished, thanks to public generosity, after a Thanksgiving weekend break-in in which almost 25 tons of food was stolen.

Meanwhile, three more Los Angeles men were arrested Friday on burglary charges in connection with the heist, bringing to six the number arrested so far, including one former employee.

Standing amid cartons of cereal, actor Dennis Weaver, president of Love Is Feeding Everyone, expressed gratitude for the public response.

“It is said that a handful is enough if it’s given with love--but this is more than a handful and it’s certainly been given with love,” he said at a lunchtime press conference at the group’s warehouse on Broadway near Manchester Boulevard. “We really appreciate all of the people that have joined in to make something good happen from something that we thought was a disaster.”

New Burglar Alarm

LIFE, which serves about 30,000 people weekly through more than 70 social service agencies, now has 30 tons of food on hand in this distribution center. It also has a brand-new burglar alarm, installed by one of the many firms that offered to do so free after the burglary.

At this point, authorities are continuing efforts to locate the stolen goods, but are unsure whether the food has been fenced, warehoused or has found its way into people’s kitchen cupboards or stomachs. A small amount of the food was recovered during the initial arrests.

In custody Friday, according to Los Angeles Police Detective Richard Martinez, were Percy Tolton, 50; Robert Wideman, 33, and Anthony Thorne, 30. Arraigned Thursday in Compton Municipal Court on commercial burglary charges were Clifton Bryant, 30; James Faine Jr., 25, and Dale Murrell, 33. All are from Los Angeles.

Murrell, LIFE officials said, had been fired from his job as a food handler at the warehouse Nov. 12 for insubordination and suspicion of theft.

Looting a Possibility

The burglars also took typewriters and other office equipment valued at more than $7,000. They then left a door wide open, according to LIFE co-founder, actress Valerie Harper. There is some speculation that some of the food was looted by passers-by during the four-day weekend.

“We don’t know where it is--we assume that it’s distributed out throughout Los Angeles someplace,” Weaver said. “ . . . We hope that it was poor people, we hope that it was hungry people, but we don’t know for sure.”

LIFE, founded four years ago, usually receives the bulk of its donations from grocery stores, where the nonprofit organization’s volunteers regularly collect edible but unsalable goods. The food is distributed from the group’s South-Central and East Los Angeles warehouses to social service agencies, which pay a 10-cents-a-pound service fee.

In addition, the group collects food and cash contributions from the public. This month, people can bring non-perishable products to any of the 35 May Co. department stores in Southern California.

With the shelves fully cleared out last weekend, “there was some slight interruption in service” for LIFE, which distributes about 4,000 pounds of food daily, Weaver said.

But as a result of public outpouring, the 5,000-square-foot warehouse is now fully stocked with foodstuffs ranging from canned peaches to baby food, from rye bread to shredded wheat.

Weaver, who termed LIFE “just a fish in the pond” of food banks and distribution centers in Los Angeles, brought in two bundles of food himself when he arrived for the press conference, including boxes of oatmeal and cans of refried beans.

“We’ve got to make this an opportunity for growing something good out of the ashes of tragedy,” he explained. “And that’s what’s happening here.”