Crime Report: Two La Cañada homes ransacked in final week of September; suspects in one case caught on video

Sept. 24

Burglary: 5000 block of Walmar Avenue, La Cañada. A man reported someone entered his home via a front bedroom window by removing its screen sometime between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. on Sept. 24. On his return home he found kitchen drawers open and bedrooms ransacked. He could not immediately say what else had been taken besides a Ferrari brand wristwatch. Video surveillance footage from a neighbor’s security system shows two black adult males, both in gray hoodies, approaching the victim’s home by walking up the driveway, then looking into windows. The first suspect is described as about 6 foot 1 and 185 pounds; the second is 6 foot 2 and 190 pounds.

Sept. 26

Burglary: 5700 block of Summit Crest Drive, La Cañada. A burglar alarm drew deputies to a house where they found the front entry door wide open. Indoors, several items were found on the hallway floor and it was obvious bedrooms had been ransacked. The glass in a master bedroom window had been broken. The break-in occurred sometime between 10:30 a.m. and 4 p.m. The homeowner was contacted by a deputy and said she would do an inventory when she got home and document any items that might have been stolen.

Sept. 27

Grand theft from unlocked vehicle: 4600 block of Encinas Drive, La Cañada. A worker who left his 2014 Chevy Express van left parked unlocked at the curb at 1 p.m. discovered at 3:40 p.m. that someone had taken his Coach wallet containing currency, a corporate credit card, a debit card and some identification cards. He’d left the wallet in the well of the driver’s side door. When asked why he’d left the van unlocked, he said so it would be faster for him to get in and out of it while he was at the work site.

Commercial burglary: 900 block of Foothill Boulevard, La Cañada. Someone broke into a locked storage pod near the alley behind a real estate business and stole two Dell computers, two computer monitors, 48 flower vases and a box of promotional notepads. The crime took place sometime between 7:30 p.m. Sept. 26 and 7:30 a.m. Sept. 27.

Theft by access card: 2800 block of Altura Avenue, La Crescenta. A man reported that someone fraudulently purchased a new iPhone using his Wells Fargo account. He was alerted to the theft at 8:16 a.m. when he received an email confirming the purchase and noting the scheduled pick-up location that day, an Apple store on L.A.’s Beverly Boulevard. He contacted the bank, which issued him a credit.

Vehicle burglary: 4300 block of Ocean View Boulevard, Montrose. Sometime between 10:15 p.m. Sept. 26 and 7:30 a.m. Sept. 27, someone stole two pairs of high-end sunglasses from a 2017 Honda Accord that had been left in its owner’s designated parking space overnight. The front passenger door window was damaged during the incident. The thief didn’t touch cash and other items that had been left in plain view, according to the report.

Grand theft from a storage locker and vandalism: 2300 block of Florencita Avenue, Montrose. A man reported that sometime overnight Sept. 26-27 someone who apparently had trouble opening a padlock to gain access to his storage locker instead sheared the loop off the locker through which that padlock had hung. He found the padlock on the ground, scratched up, and the locker’s shelves empty. Taken were two Coleman tents, 40 inflatable tube-style couches in various colors, two fishing rods, a camping heater and an artificial Christmas tree.

Sept. 28

Grand theft: 2500 block of Piedmont Avenue, La Crescenta. A man reported he’d learned from UPS that a car part he ordered on July 29 had been delivered to his door at approximately 5 p.m. on Aug. 2, but he never received it.

Burglary: 4700 block of Glenwood Avenue, La Crescenta. A woman who works as a nanny at the property said she’d arrived at the location at about 1 p.m. on Sept. 24 and noticed as she walked toward the house that a side gate was hanging open. She entered the home and saw that the kitchen window was cracked and the screen for that window had been removed. She also noticed the previously open side gate was now shut. Nothing was reported stolen, but the screen that had been cut from its frame was found on the ground outside the kitchen window.

Sept. 29

Vehicle burglary: 4300 block of Beulah Drive, La Cañada. Sometime between 7 p.m. Sept. 28 and 7:30 a.m. Sept. 29 got into a locked 2013 Jeep Wrangler that had been left parked on the street in front of its owner’s home. When the man went out to his car the next morning he found the rear passenger door ajar. Taken were identification cards to three medical facilities, a dash camera and a Chase Bank checkbook.

Compiled from reports on file at the Crescenta Valley Sheriff’s Station.

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