Transient Arrested in Break-Ins at City Compound

Los Angeles police said Monday the arrest of a burglary suspect at a city maintenance and storage compound in North Hollywood will bring to an end a rash of burglaries on the property.

In some of the break-ins, city trucks were used to crash through doors, police said.

Carl Rohde, a 21-year-old transient, was arrested Sunday when officers watched him break into three buildings in the compound at Laurel Canyon Boulevard and Sherman Way, Detective Richard Ramsdell said.

Ramsdell said Rohde is suspected in 15 break-ins at the compound since October. In those cases, the burglar often broke into a storage room where keys to city vehicles were kept, Ramsdell said. He would then either use a city car and a chain to pull steel bars off office windows or crash maintenance trucks through doors to the buildings, Ramsdell said.

The damage during the break-ins, estimated at more than $4,000, far exceeded the value of items stolen, Ramsdell said. The burglar mostly took small items and amounts of money from desks and vending machines, Ramsdell said.