Local News in Brief : Bearer of Gifts Seized: Not a Santa, Police Say

The man Stan Miller saw walking down the Reseda street Tuesday carried a large, red bag brimming with what appeared to be Christmas gifts--each wrapped and ready to be put under a tree.

Miller, a Los Angeles Police Department burglary detective, said he looked again as he drove by and saw that the man carried a second bag--containing a videocassette recorder. It was not in a box or wrapped in Christmas paper.

The detective pulled over, figuring that the man was no Santa Claus.

Miller said his hunch was correct, that the presents Ricardo Gonzalez, 22, was carrying weren’t destined for a Christmas tree. They were stolen from under one.

Miller arrested Gonzalez, a transient, on suspicion of burglary.

“He ransacked an apartment and took presents from under a Christmas tree,” the detective said. “While he was in there, he took the wrapping off some of the packages and decided not to take them after he saw they were sweaters he probably didn’t like.”

Miller arrested the man at the intersection of Kittridge Street and Etiwanda Avenue in Reseda, three blocks from the Police Department’s West Valley Division. He had been headed there when he spotted Gonzalez about 10 a.m.

“I’ve worked burglaries a long time,” Miller said. “VCRs are always the first thing to be taken. When I saw he had one, I decided to go back and talk to the guy.”

He added that Gonzalez was too burdened to run and admitted that he had just burglarized a nearby home. After the arrest, the property, worth about $1,500, was returned and Gonzalez was held in the West Valley jail in lieu of $7,500 bail.

Miller said he is happy to have saved Christmas for at least one family.

“Every Christmas, we get quite a few burglaries with people getting their presents taken,” he said. “It gets pretty bad.”