Newport police share tips on preventing home burglaries as 100 residents attend CdM meeting

Corona del Mar resident Donna Foulger was sleeping soundly in her home on Sandcastle Drive on June 23 when she was awakened by rustling sounds that she mistook for an animal in her backyard.

It wasn’t long before she realized intruders were in her house.

“I screamed ‘Get out of my house, get out of my house,’” Foulger said. “They took off running. It all happened so fast.”

The four masked thieves made off with $35,000 in jewelry and cash, she said.

Police said the burglars smashed through the glass door leading from the backyard to the master bedroom. Foulger was sleeping in another room at the time.

No arrests have been made in connection with the incident.

Foulger shared her experience with more than 100 residents who attended a community meeting Wednesday night presented by the Corona del Mar Residents Assn. to voice their concerns about what they say is a “rash” of burglaries in their neighborhoods.

However, local law enforcement representatives said a crime wave isn’t evident in data.

Newport Beach Police Department statistics show overall property crime is down in Corona del Mar this year compared with this time last year. Seventy-five property crimes were reported in the area from Jan. 1 to Aug. 7, compared with 93 in the same period in 2017, authorities said.

However, police have investigated six more burglaries so far this year in CdM and have made 10 more arrests in burglary and theft cases, according to the department’s crime prevention specialist, Sara Verschueren, who attended the meeting with three other police officials.

Verschueren said burglars often enter homes through unlocked windows and doors but also have been known to pry open doors or windows or shatter them to gain access. Most burglars target the master bedroom, where they figure most significant items are kept.

Burglars can show considerable ingenuity. In one case, an intruder stacked multiple patio chairs to make his way to an open second-story window, Verschueren said.

She said residents always should lock doors and windows that lead outside and may consider adding “smart” cameras, alarms, light timers and more-secure locks, and cut shrubs and trees away from windows and doors so they don’t provide cover for criminals.

Adding outdoor lighting also can help deter thieves, most of whom prefer to slip into dark areas unnoticed, she said.

Some residents who spoke during the meeting suggested the city add light posts to dimly lighted neighborhoods like the Flower Streets.

Police Department spokeswoman Jennifer Manzella said Thursday that residents should approach home security in terms of “layers” and combine items such as lights, locks and cameras to help deter crime.

“No one of these things is going to be adequate to prevent anything from happening to a resident. We don’t want to make that promise,” she said. “People should do what works for their lifestyle.”

Police say the majority of burglaries in Newport Beach occur in the afternoon or evening when residents aren’t home. Interrupted burglaries as in Foulger’s case are fairly uncommon.

Foulger said she’s not certain why her house was targeted, but she had recently returned home after a three-week vacation. Her theory is the burglars may have cased the house in the days before the break-in and thought she wouldn’t be home.

“[Burglars] don’t want any confrontation,” Verschueren said. “They want to get in and out quickly and grab what they can.”

hannah.fry@latimes.com

Twitter: @HannahFryTCN