Trio of burglary suspects arrested in alleged tree-trimming scheme
Three men were busted Thursday morning after one of them allegedly posed as a tree trimmer while the two others sneaked into a La Crescenta home and stole jewelry, police said.
Similar burglaries were reported in Glendale and La Crescenta last month, though investigators were not immediately able to link the trio to the other crimes.
At around 9:15 a.m., a resident in the 2700 block of Pinelawn Drive noticed her jewelry missing after a man posing as a tree trimmer distracted her in the backyard, said Sgt. Alan Chu of the sheriff’s Crescenta Valley station.
She called police immediately with a description of the man’s white van, which was stopped near the intersection of La Crescenta Avenue and the Foothill (210) Freeway.
The three suspects in the van, who were not immediately identified, were arrested on suspicion of burglary.
During the investigation, authorities temporarily closed the La Crescenta Avenue onramp to the eastbound 210 Freeway.
Just three weeks earlier on Oct. 14, a woman was leaving her Glendale home in the 3800 block of El Moreno Street when a man approached her and told her he was clearing trees and debris on a neighbor’s property and asked to show her, from her yard, where he would be working.
After she agreed, he directed her to the corner of the property for about 15 minutes, telling her about the work that he and his three workers would be doing, said Glendale Police spokeswoman Tahnee Lightfoot.
During that time, the man was speaking to someone on a hand-held radio in a foreign language, though the resident did not know what language was being spoken.
A radio was involved in Thursday’s burglary as well, though details about how it was used were not immediately available.
When the Glendale victim went back inside after agreeing to subsequently meet the man’s workers outside for a business card, she noticed her belongings had been moved and her safe was lying by the front door. Cash was reportedly gone and drawers had been rummaged through.
When she opened her front door, the man and his white pickup truck were gone.
Similar burglaries occurred on Sept. 30 in the 1100 block of East California Avenue and on Oct. 7 in the 4600 block of Lowell Avenue.
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Alene Tchekmedyian, alene.tchekmedyian@latimes.com
Twitter: @atchek
