Crime Report: Family returns from vacation to find safe, laptops missing
Jan. 5
Burglary, residence: 4200 block of Woodleigh Lane, La Cañada. A man told deputies he and his family left their residence on Dec. 22 for a two-week vacation abroad. On Jan. 2, he received a voicemail message from a neighbor informing him the front driveway security gate was open and the gate code wasn’t working. When the family returned home on Jan. 5, they noticed bedsheets and throw pillows from the master bedroom were strewn on the ground near the bedroom’s balcony. There were also two drag marks on the concrete below. Upon inspecting the house, the man noticed the master bedroom patio door was shattered and the room ransacked. A safe was missing from a storage area inside the closet, the door of which had been pulled off the hinges, and there were two drag marks in the wooden floor from the closet to the balcony. No other part of the home was ransacked. Among the items reported stolen were five Social Security cards, an Apple MacBook Pro and an Apple MacBook Air laptop. The homeowner had surveillance cameras, but they were not functioning at the time.
Burglary, vehicle: 4400 block of Oakwood Avenue, La Cañada. A man had been taking photographs the day before and came home at around 3 p.m., leaving a backpack full of camera equipment in the hatchback of his father’s 2009 Honda Fit. The next day at around 3:30 p.m. he headed out to the vehicle to pick up his mother from the Burbank airport. Remembering he may have left the backpack in the car, he checked the rear area but found nothing. A quick check of the residence confirmed he hadn’t brought the pack into the house. Returning to the vehicle’s passenger side, he noticed the glove compartment door was ajar and its contents appeared ransacked. Among the items in the pack were a Canon 5DSR, two Canon lenses and various batteries, cords and pieces of photo equipment.
Jan. 9
Elder abuse, financial: 4500 block of Sharon Avenue, La Crescenta. A woman received a call on Dec. 7 from a man informing her there was a problem with her home computer that he could correct for a fee, if she would procure from him two Ebay gift cards in specific amounts (redacted) as payment. She did as he instructed, but the man told her the card numbers she provided didn’t work and she’d have to get two more. When she attempted the purchase, Capitol One bank declined the transaction. She told the man about the issue, and he said he would deposit funds into her bank account as a refund. On Jan. 8, she called the bank to inquire about a deposit made by “Vortex Tech Support” and was informed by the representative she may be the victim of fraud.
Jan. 10
Misappropriation of lost property: 500 block of Foothill Boulevard, La Cañada. A woman accidentally left her wallet at a store checkout counter. She called the store and was told an employee had found the wallet in an empty shopping cart in the front parking lot. But when she retrieved it, she noticed the cash that had been inside was missing. Surveillance footage showed an unknown female, who’d been in line behind the victim, pay for her items and then place the wallet in her purse before leaving the store.
Attempted burglary, residence: 4100 block of Hampstead Road, La Cañada. A man left for work at around 9:50 a.m. When he returned at around 6:10 p.m. he noticed a garden hose by the carport, which had been rolled up when he left, was laying on the ground and a black metal security gate was wide open. When he tried to insert his house key into the lock, he had difficulty and noticed there was a broken key inside the keyhole. It appeared to be a spare key he’d kept nearby, which was missing from its usual spot. The homeowner also noticed pry marks on the door by the deadbolt and lock and figured someone had tried to enter his residence. In a walk-through, the man noticed several doors and windows had been pried or had their screen torn. A rear basement door was ajar and the cover of the furnace inside was removed. A deck of playing cards had also been taken from a closet in the carport, he told deputies.
Theft by false pretenses: 4200 block of Castle Road, La Cañada. A woman told deputies she’d received an email at around 6 a.m. that day from Amazon informing her a laptop she purchased was being shipped to Connecticut and advising her to contact Amazon’s fraud department if the purchase had not been made by her. She called the number, told a representative she hadn’t ordered the laptop and learned her Amazon account may have been hacked. He said to assist her in correcting the issue, she needed to purchase an Ebay gift card as payment. The woman sent her live-in caretaker to a store to purchase the card. Once the card’s barcode number had been read to the man, he informed the victim of further suspicious activity on her account and said he would need two more Ebay gift cards to fix the problem. She complied and was told even more fraudulent activity had been discovered, causing her to believe she was being scammed by the representative and hung up. Shortly thereafter, she received a call from Chase Bank’s fraud department regarding the suspicious purchases of Ebay gift cards on her bank account.
Jan. 12
Vandalism, vehicle: 1900 block of Foothill Boulevard, La Cañada. A woman parked her 2006 Toyota 4Runner in a lower parking lot at around 1 p.m., securing the vehicle before leaving to work out. When she returned at around 3 p.m., an employee approached her and asked if the 4Runner belonged to her. The rear window of the vehicle had been shattered. The woman said nothing inside appeared to have been disturbed.
Compiled from reports filed at the Crescenta Valley Sheriff’s Station