4 Held on Car Theft Not Linked to Robberies : Crime: Police say they ‘have no idea’ who is behind the recent rash of follow-home attacks.

Los Angeles police announced Tuesday that they have no evidence to connect four men arrested last week to a string of follow-home robberies that struck the San Fernando Valley during the busy holiday shopping season.

Officers from the LAPD’s elite Metropolitan Division arrested four men, ages 15, 16, 21 and 25 on suspicion of auto theft Thursday after they were spotted in a stolen vehicle near the intersection of Nordhoff Street and Tampa Avenue, police said. Investigators refused to identify the men, saying it would hamper their investigation.

On Tuesday, LAPD Lt. Kyle Jackson said that in “no way” can his detectives show that the four men committed any of the follow-home robberies. He added that the men may face carjacking charges in an unrelated matter.

“Right now we have no idea who is committing the crimes,” Jackson said. “We have no clues that will lead to the arrests of suspects.”

In other news, police reported there were no new follow-home robberies over the Christmas weekend.

LAPD Lt. Dan Hoffman attributed the drop to Neighborhood Watch programs, greater public awareness of the robberies and an increase in police presence on the streets.

Last week, police warned residents to be on guard against a group of bandits who follow victims to their houses, brandish handguns and demand money, purses and Christmas gifts. Police bolstered patrols, and officers from the elite Metropolitan Division were also deployed.

Hoffman would not say how much longer the extra officers would remain on the job.

The follow-home crime wave reached a peak last week, when police reported as many as 10 robberies in the northwest Valley in one week. In one, a victim was shot, and in another a house was ransacked and its four occupants tied up for two hours.