Rash of burglaries reported in one neighborhood

Deepa Bharath

COSTA MESA -- Several residents, and probably holiday guests, in the

Joann Street neighborhood got a rude shock Christmas morning when they

saw their cars broken into or vandalized.

Police said at least eight cars were broken into and a variety of items

stolen.

“Nothing was stolen from one of the cars because there were no loose

items lying around,” Lt. Dale Birney said.

Most of the cars suffered similar damage, he said.

“Mostly, they had broken windows,” Birney said. “In all but one of the

vehicles [the burglars] managed to enter and remove something.”

The burglaries apparently happened between 5 p.m. Christmas Eve and about

9 a.m. Christmas morning, he said. Six of them happened in the 600 block

of Joann Street, and one happened in the 1900 block of neighboring Pomona

Avenue, Birney said.

“But the type of entry suggests it was related,” he said.

Birney said the string of burglaries cannot necessarily be associated

with the holidays.

“These type of incidents do happen once in a while,” he said. “Often we

see people cruising through a neighborhood. Last year, we had this person

who was shooting store windows and car windows with a BB gun.”

Birney said he could not guess why the burglars targeted this

neighborhood but said he was surprised the police did not receive any

calls related to these incidents.

“In one of the vehicles, the front windshield was broken,” he said. “It’s

surprising nobody saw or heard it.”

Birney said none of the burglaries was discovered or reported until

Christmas morning.