String of Thefts in Pico Rivera Infuriates Drivers of Big Rigs

Darryl Rowden was lucky this time, but he is not going to take any more chances. The long-distance trucker from St. Louis is spitting mad and has vowed that whenever he spends the night in this town, he will sleep in the cab of his truck with a hunting rifle.

Early Monday morning, burglars walked past his rig and broke into a copper-colored 18-wheeler owned by Rowden’s brother and sister-in-law. The burglars stole more than $1,000 in electronic equipment while the couple slept in a nearby room at the Starlite Lodge on Rosemead Boulevard.

Began in August

The truck was one of three long-haulers burglarized in the large parking lot behind the motel. And it marked the 15th time that truck break-ins had been reported in the surrounding area since August, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department officials said.

The Monday break-ins netted thieves more than $5,000 in stereos, citizen band radios, televisions and other personal belongings taken from the trucks’ sleeper cabs, investigators said. Burglars picked the trucks--including Darryl Rowden’s Peterbilt--from about a dozen other rigs.

“That truck is our home when we’re on the road,” lamented Kathleen Rowden, who hauls a North American Van Lines trailer across the country with her husband, Gail. “It’s like violating our bedroom.”

The burglary was the latest incident in what some angry truckers say has been a string of thefts unsolved over the past year. Burglars have been stealing equipment from the truckers’ sleeper cabs by prying open side windows and breaking the latches. They have left the trailers untouched, however.

Burglaries on Rise

Some long-distance truckers who frequent four relatively inexpensive motels along Rosemead Boulevard say they have been grumbling about it among themselves since they noticed an increase in burglaries last summer.

In interviews this week, several truckers complained that sheriff’s deputies have not done enough to stop the thefts. Some truckers even threatened to take the law into their own hands if the rash of burglaries continues.

“What are they doing for us? Nothing.” complained Jerry Haynes, a Georgia-based trucker who hauls carpeting to Southern California once a week.

Haynes, who stays at the Roadway Inn--another truck stop less than a mile from the Starlite Lodge--reported that his truck was broken into and his radio and other personal belongings taken last month. “They think we are just transients and not worth the bother.”

Large Parking Lots

The motels cater to drivers who deliver goods to the Southeast, providing inexpensive rooms and parking lots specifically designed to accommodate long-haul trucks.

Sheriff’s investigators who furnish law enforcement service to Pico Rivera under contract with the city have been unable to identify any suspects, Sgt. Rick Adams said. He declined to comment on whether he believes the recent break-ins are the result of an organized ring or the unrelated acts of individuals.

Adams said that additional deputies have been ordered to patrol the motel parking lots at night. He added that plainclothes detectives also have been to pawn shops and flea markets in their search for leads.

Adams disputed, however, the truckers’ contention that they are singled out and constantly victimized.

Fifteen burglaries “is not a great number when you figure it’s a transitory business,” Adams said. “It’s not an out-of-control situation.”

‘The Worst Place’

Some truckers disagree. “This is the worst place (on the Rowdens’ cross-country route to Missouri) that we know of,” Gail Rowden said. “It’s going to start costing us money to come here.”

More than a dozen truckers who were randomly interviewed by The Times this week claimed to have been victims of burglaries while parked overnight in the area. Although they admit that they have no proof, several said they believe that sheriff’s investigators are understating the number of crimes.

Some also acknowledged that a few burglary victims have shied away from reporting break-ins because they cannot afford to waste hours of drive-time while deputies write incident reports and interview the victims, they said.

In June, James Neeley said his truck was burglarized as it sat unattended in the busy Roadway Inn truck parking lot. “Three days before that, three other trucks got hit,” Neeley said, sitting in the inn’s lobby, sipping a tall screwdriver with fellow off-duty truckers.

Patrols Are Difficult

Several motel managers conceded that it is almost impossible for them to adequately patrol the huge parking lots they provide for truckers. Roadway Inn manager Michael Hsu said that up to 70 trucks park in the lot behind his motel on a typical night.

“They drive in and out” at all hours, Hsu said. A security guard was hired after truckers complained, Hsu added, but “we have a big lot. You cannot check every truck.”

Joseph Fung, day manager of the Starlite Lodge, said that motel personnel find it difficult to distinguish between truckers and burglars in the often-busy parking lot.

He said that the motel owners are doing what they could to discourage crime. The truck lot is well-lighted and a tall fence will be erected around the lot next week.