Tip Leads to $500,000 in Stolen Property and 15 Arrests

A South El Monte electrician who thought a neighboring business seemed suspicious led Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies to a warehouse where $500,000 in stolen goods was seized and 15 people were arrested, officers said Tuesday.

Most of the merchandise, which ranged from refrigerators to picnic tables to cans of tuna, was still packaged and appeared to have been taken from the storerooms of several San Gabriel Valley businesses, deputies said.

Detectives are investigating the possibility that the cache may be connected to an interstate ring involving millions of dollars in stolen goods, but no other details about the operation were available, Deputy George Ducoulombier said.

The 15 people arrested ranged in age from 21 to 45 and were in or near the 12,000-square-foot warehouse on the 1800 block of Floradale Avenue when officers arrived Monday night, deputies said. They were taken to the Temple City sheriff’s substation and booked on suspicion of receiving stolen property. Bail was set at $5,000 each.

Jeff Smith, 30, an electrician next door at Walton Winding Service, said he had long wondered what went on at the warehouse in a cinder-block building with a sign in the window reading “JCC Video Star.”

But Smith said he did not get concerned until he heard a big rig with two trailers come screeching down the dead-end street and pull up to the warehouse about 5 p.m. Monday. Men started throwing boxes from the trailer into parked cars, he said.

“It just didn’t look right,” said Smith, adding that he once repaired a small electrical tool for a man who worked at JCC Video.

When deputies arrived, they stopped two men on the block driving what turned out to be a stolen tractor-trailer, Ducoulombier said. Deputies then went into the warehouse and discovered dozens of stacked cardboard boxes, at least some of which have since been claimed by a Home Club store in the City of Industry and a local supermarket, he said.

Deputies said they did not know whether the video company had any connection to the theft ring.