The Sands of Crime : Burglars Find Fodder for Fraud in Cars at Beaches

It cost JoLynn Nyquist $8,000 to go jogging at Torrey Pines State Reserve.

“I went down to Torrey Pines beach to go jogging after work,” said Nyquist, a 25-year-old nurse who moved to California from Montana seven months ago. “When I got back, I found they had smashed my back window, taken my purse from my trunk and emptied my glove compartment.

“Back home, we don’t even lock our doors,” she said. “I guess it’s my welcome to California.”

Nyquist is one of dozens of victims of a summer burglary ring that has stolen women’s purses out of cars at beaches from Del Mar to Mission Bay since July 4, according to authorities who have uncovered the operation and made eight arrests so far.

More Than 40 Cars

The thieves, working in roving man-woman teams, broke into more than 40 cars parked in lots or along roads near such popular beaches as Fiesta Island, Sea World and Torrey Pines State Reserve, sheriff’s deputies said Monday.

The thieves netted more than $100,000 in cash and stolen merchandise through the illegal use of checkbooks and credit cards, deputies said.

Nyquist, who lost her credit cards and checkbook, has since heard from stores at which the thieves apparently spent her money. Detectives said as much as $8,000 was illegally charged to her credit and checking accounts.

“I’ve heard from airline companies, grocery stores, a T.J. Maxx clothing store--even a hair salon. I guess I should be glad they didn’t take my car,” Nyquist said.

Deputies said the woman in the burglary team, posing as a beach-goer, would walk through parking lots targeting cars, followed by the man, who was carrying a crowbar.

“More than 98% of the victims were women who didn’t give much thought as to how they hid their purse,” sheriff’s Detective Larry Van Wey said.

“Some people lost pretty sizable of cash,” he said. “But these people were primarily after checkbooks and credit cards they could use to go on major spending sprees around town.

“So the losses in that regard could be more than $100,000--money spent in every conceivable kind of way, from plane tickets, car and hotel rentals, gas, stereos, VCRs and expensive jewelry--even food binges at local grocery stores,” Van Wey said.

Several checks valued at between $500 and $1,000 each were cashed at stores in San Diego and East County, including at the Price Club and commercial check-cashing windows, he said.

Savings Account Emptied

In one case, deputies said, the thieves used a stolen credit card to withdraw all $5,000 from a 73-year-old woman’s savings account, through the automatic teller machine at her bank. The woman had left her confidential identification number in her purse.

Authorities suspect that more than a dozen people will eventually be implicated in the ring, which they said began operating shortly after the Fourth of July.

“Most of the people we’ve arrested or are looking at all have been on parole” in connection with other thefts, Van Wey said, adding that all are residents of San Diego.

On Thursday, San Diego police, who are handling the fraud elements of the case, arrested three men who had allegedly checked into the Radisson Hotel in Mission Valley using a stolen credit card pilfered weeks before from a car belonging to a North County beach-goer.

Earlier, authorities had arrested what they described as two man-woman teams at beaches in Del Mar. Timothy McIver and his wife, Carole, were arrested July 19 on charges of second-degree burglary and possession of burglary tools. Undercover detectives arrested a second pair Aug. 9 in Del Mar. Richard Lee McDowell, 35, and Sheila Coleman, 22, were charged with several burglary-related offenses.

Gas Station Videos

Several days earlier, 42-year-old Denny Nobles was arrested while driving a rental car that had been secured with a stolen credit card, authorities said.

Authorities have also identified a pregnant woman believed to have been involved with the ring and are looking for several other people, identified from gas station video cameras that recorded their illegal credit card transactions.

Deputies uncovered the ring with the help of eyewitness descriptions of the thieves.

“They would switch partners every now and then,” Van Wey said. “The male would drop the female off, and she would peer into parked cars as she walked past with a towel, looking like they were going to the beach.”

Each pair committed two or three burglaries at a time before heading home to the North Park area, authorities said.

Back Window Smashed

Van Wey, who worked undercover with the Sheriff’s Department beach patrol unit to make several of the arrests, said he was surprised at the carelessness of people.

“You wouldn’t believe the number of people who put their keys in the gas cap, or they hid them under the bumper or left them on top of the tire,” he said. “And I’m not talking about junkers, I’m talking about Porsches and Ferraris.

“I was just there for a couple of hours,” he said, “and, if I was a car thief, I could have driven off five or 10 cars.”

His advice: “When you go to the beach, carry a small wallet or a rump sack with you, just to be safe.”

“Don’t assume that just because you put something in your trunk that it’s going to be there when you get back.”