Residents’ Patrol Helps Lead to Arrest of Car Theft Suspects

Criminal charges have been filed against two people who were spotted in a stolen car by a Los Angeles police officer and a group of Studio City residents just hours after they started their first Neighborhood Watch patrols, authorities said Wednesday.

“This was an example of community policing in action,” City Atty. Jim Hahn said in a prepared statement. “The arrest took place during a high-profile joint operation by Police Department and Neighborhood Watch members in an area where there have been problems with car thefts and residential burglaries.”

Alfredo Guiterrez, 20, of North Hollywood and Estella Luz Villatoro, 23, of Oxnard were arrested on May 30 as they sat in the stolen car, a 1992 Buick Regal, parked on Greenleaf Street, Deputy City Atty. Richard Schmidt said. Among the charges filed Tuesday against Guiterrez and Villatoro were receiving stolen property and using a vehicle without the owner’s consent, he said.

Studio City residents in the area of Coldwater Canyon and Ventura boulevards decided to try the patrols, part of a Citizens Strike Force program run by the Police Department’s North Hollywood Division, because they were shocked to learn of the number of crimes in the area, said Officer James O’Riley, the senior lead officer for the area.

The strike forces consist of residents who patrol the streets in their cars, using cellular phones to report any suspicious activity to a house designated as headquarters. The resident of that house then uses a police radio to communicate with an officer patrolling the area.

About 60 Studio City residents attended their first “roll call” at 2 p.m. before they hit the streets to search for suspicious activities. Five hours later, O’Riley said, he and three residents riding with him noticed the Buick Regal. Its two occupants slid down in the seat as the police car approached.

One of the residents checked its license number on the patrol car’s computer and discovered that the car had been reported stolen two days before, O’Riley said. Word traveled quickly through the ranks of residents cruising the area, as the command post house notified those in the street with cellular phones.

“When I looked around behind me, here’s six Neighborhood Watch cars abreast across the street, kind of like my backup,” O’Riley said. “It was great,” he said of the arrest. “It was super.”

Neighbor Patti Londre agreed. “We had our meeting at 2 p.m. and by 7 p.m. we had our first arrests,” she said.

One of the best parts, Londre said, was when proud neighbors turned out to watch police cars, a tow truck and Neighborhood Watch patrols follow each other down the street.

“We were all out on the street giving the thumbs up to our Neighborhood Watch people,” she said. “It really was like a parade.”