Jailer Finds Knife, Stolen Years Ago, in Inmate’s Property
On Wednesday, Los Angeles police arrested Gilbert Aragon of Granada Hills, intending to book him for an alleged parole violation.
By the time the day was over, though, Aragon was in jail on a completely different charge: receiving stolen property from a years-old burglary.
In an amazing twist, a jailer who had been asked to hold a bag of Aragon’s personal property recognized his own long-lost pocketknife among the suspect’s things.
“It was taken from a burglary at my house,” the jailer, civilian officer Larry Brummett, told Det. Tony Foti.
Aragon lives blocks from Brummett in Granada Hills, in a 1960s-era bomb shelter.
Aragon, 48, was charged with possession of stolen property, a felony--but not until the two men engaged in a brief standoff over ownership of the knife.
Aragon, Foti said, asserted he didn’t know what Brummett was talking about. But Brummett insisted that if opened, the knife would prove to have one shaved blade and another that was broken off.
He was right.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
