Three on the hook for battery theft
Three men were sentenced Monday to serve jail time and probation after being arrested last week for allegedly stealing more than a dozen car batteries from Honda vehicles in Glendale and Los Angeles, officials said.
The Los Angeles residents — Jordan Astudillo, 20, Jonathan Piche, 19, and David Osorio, 18 — pleaded no contest to two misdemeanor counts of petty theft, according Shiara Dávila-Morales, spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office.
Astudillo and Piche were each sentenced to serve 60 days in jail, while Osorio was ordered to 30 days in custody, she added. All three must also fulfill a term of 36 months on probation.
The trio was arrested just after 2:30 a.m. Thursday on suspicion of grand theft after resident Christian Moreno said he heard a noise and spotted them open the hood of his neighbor’s car in the 200 block of East Palmer Avenue.
He reportedly saw them enter a dark green Ford Mustang and flee the neighborhood in the vehicle.
Moreno immediately called police, who stopped the Ford and quickly noticed several car batteries on the rear floorboard.
As officers investigated the three men, they reported finding seven car batteries inside the Ford and another nine batteries hidden in the trunk, according to Glendale police spokeswoman Tahnee Lightfoot.
They reportedly admitted to stealing 16 car batteries from mostly Honda vehicles throughout Glendale and Los Angeles, she added.
Police were able to identify the owner of one of the batteries, and found three other burglarized vehicles on Palmer, but they were unable to find their owners.
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