The Ripped-Off Seek Recovery

They oohed at the DVD players. They ahhed at the car stereos. But it was the 40-inch Sony television that really got the burglary victims excited.

Aliso Viejo residents wandered through City Hall on Tuesday night to peruse a selection of stolen goods that rivaled local electronics stores.

Orange County sheriff’s deputies said they discovered the loot last month when they went to arrest Steven Beverly, 42, on suspicion of violating parole.

When deputies entered Beverly’s home in Aliso Viejo on Jan. 23, they said they found desktop computers stacked high in the dining room, stereos in the living room and other appliances scattered throughout the house.

Authorities arrested Beverly on suspicion of possessing stolen property and implicated his brother, Henry, 41, who was in jail on unrelated charges.

“You name it, they had it,” said Jim Amormino, a Sheriff’s Department spokesman.

The list of 62 recovered items read like a couch potato’s fantasy: at least two DVD players, one VHS player, four televisions (all in different screen widths) and several home theater systems with surround-sound capability.

The weirdest item, Amormino said, was a cable TV meter reader, which authorities suspect was used to connect the televisions to free cable. The device was reported stolen from a Dana Point cable company in August and valued at $1,400, Amormino said. Several satellite dishes were also on display.

Clutching a stack of insurance records, Becky Kane, 43, walked up and down the aisles, scanning the tables. It had been two months since a burglar broke into her house in Laguna Hills, and she had given up any hope of recovering her family’s valuables. But when she heard about the display at City Hall, she decided to give it a shot.

“Did you find any laptops?” she asked a nearby deputy.

“No.”

“A PlayStation?”

“No.”

“PlayStation games?”

“No.”

“Every piece of jewelry I ever owned?”

“Nope.”

Kane gave a little sigh and headed out the door.

Most of the electronics were valuable, but some items were harder to explain, such as an incomplete set of old golf clubs and two electronic doorknob locks with numeric keypads attached.

When questioned, the brothers blamed each other, deputies said. “They did not say who owned it or how it got there,” Amormino said. “We figure the brother team was either receiving stolen property and fencing it, or stealing it themselves.”

No bail has been set for the pair. Authorities said they are investigating whether to add theft or burglary charges.

Steven Beverly is in Anaheim Jail and his brother is in Orange County Jail.

The property will be on display in the City Council chamber today from 4 to 10 p.m. and Thursday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.