Southland Car Burglars Find New Calling

At a time when cellular phone thefts appear to be declining elsewhere in the nation, several cities are experiencing a rash of burglaries involving young thieves who smash car windows for the phones inside.

“In terms of auto burglaries, it sure seems like it has surpassed the car stereo, at least in our city,” Newport Beach Police Sgt. Mike McDermott said. “Something like a cell phone is very easy to steal. It’s not like the car stereo where you have to pry it out of the dash. You break the window, and you’re in and out of there in less than 10 seconds.”

McDermott said that Newport Beach experienced 142 car break-ins during October and November, many involving cellular phone thefts. Typically, the city has between 30 and 40 such break-ins each month.

Neighboring cities also report an increase or say they have been fighting a constant battle.

“It’s a tremendous, growing problem,” Irvine Sgt. Rick Handfield said. “There are just more [phones] around. In California, we all seem to have a cell phone.”

A few years ago, cellular phones were a particularly hot item among thieves, who would reprogram them for sale on the black market. But security measures on newer phones can automatically shut off the phone once it has been reported stolen, making it useless.

Now, thefts “might just be for usage for the moment,” said Newport Beach Det. Mark Fisher, a member of the Orange County Auto Theft Task Force.

Melissa May, spokeswoman for Irvine-based AirTouch Cellular, said a stolen phone can be “switched off 15 minutes later so that it becomes a paperweight and doesn’t provide any value to the thief.”

But older phones still can be cloned or reprogrammed, Fisher said, and “most of the phones we are seeing stolen are the old style.”

Cell phone thefts “are still accounting for about 30% of our car burglary losses,” McDermott said. “As far as other types of property stolen, that outpaces everything else like golf clubs, stereos, wallets and purses.”

Marty Hill, a salesman at Let’s Talk Cellular in the MainPlace/Santa Ana Mall, said he usually recommends that people buy insurance. He also suggests that they buy phones that can be used only with secret codes.

Officials at the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Assn. in Washington say that Newport Beach’s situation “is going against the national trend.”

Tim Ayres, vice president for communications, said phones “have become a lot less valuable on the black market because there are an awful lot of anti-fraud measures built into the system.”

But, he said, “the fact of the matter is you can still steal and make calls on it until someone knows it’s gone.”

Police in several cities said the thefts could be avoided.

“People leave them on the dashboard, sitting on the seat or on the center console,” Laguna Beach Lt. Dannell Adams said. “Take the phone with you. Some are so small they can fit into your pocket or purse.”

Times staff writer Richard Marosi contributed to this report.