Crime Report: Vandalism at La Cañada High captured by video surveillance

Feb. 28

Burglary: 4800 block of Castle Road. A deputy responding to an audible burglary alarm found glass on the home’s driveway and a shattered rear sliding-glass door.

The homeowner arrived home and said that he and his wife had left the property at about 11:30 a.m. Five minutes later, he received a call from the alarm company alerting him to a possible break-in.

The victim noted that a smoke alarm battery had been removed by the burglar(s), two Apple iPads taken from the living room and one Apple iPad Mini that had been left on the kitchen counter was stolen. It also appeared bedroom drawers had been rummaged through upstairs.

Two neighbors said that at 11:45 a.m. that day they each saw an older model silver four-door car that one believed to be a Honda Accord, parked near the victims’ home, with a Latina woman in her 20s seated in the driver’s seat and two Latino males standing outside of the vehicle. The car had paper “Rock Honda” plates.

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Vehicle burglary: 1000 block of Oxford Way. A woman reported that she parked her BMW X5 in her driveway at about 2 p.m., leaving it locked and all of its windows closed. She left her leather Kate Spade purse on the floor by the front passenger’s seat.

When she returned to it at approximately 4 p.m., she noticed all four windows were halfway open and the doors were unlocked. She checked to see if anything was missing and realized her purse had been taken. Inside it were a set of keys (the BMW’s, a house key and a mailbox key) and her wallet containing her driver’s license, three credit cards and U.S. currency.

March 1

Burglary: 400 block of Paulette Place. A man reported that he and his wife had left their home for work at about 10 a.m. that day, securing the residence before they left. When the man returned home at approximately 6 p.m., he found the electricity to the entire home was off and an exterior door that includes a “doggie door” was ajar.

Inside, drawers in all bedrooms had been ransacked, with their contents strewn on the floor. A Rolex Oyster watch, yellow/white gold; two U.S. Passports and an undisclosed amount of U.S. currency were taken from a drawer in the master bedroom.

A responding deputy found the electric utility box at the side of the house open. He also noted that the exterior portion of a 2-foot-by-4-foot double-paned window was broken, but the interior pane was intact. The homeowner said the window had not been broken before he left the house that day.

March 2

Burglary: 5300 block of Angeles Crest Highway. The owner reported that someone entered her locked, vacant house sometime between 5:30 on Feb. 28 and 10:30 am. on March 1 by prying open a sliding-glass door and vandalized the property by smashing interior glass doors, pulling away from a wall a wood mantelpiece and pulling a window air conditioning unit off its mounting and leaving it on the floor.

She said she waited a day to report the crime because the house will be demolished soon to make way for a new residence. Then she decided to report it anyway, in hopes of keeping the vandals away.

March 3

Vandalism: La Cañada High School, 4463 Oak Grove Drive. A school security officer reported that, according to video surveillance tape, a suspect wearing dark-colored pants, jacket and hood entered through the north gate of the campus at about 6:30 a.m. on Sunday, Feb. 26, and walked west through the parking lot.

A short time later the intruder spray-painted a surveillance camera and the wall it was mounted on with what appears to be a fire extinguisher. Just prior to the suspect entering the campus, a white, two-door, long bed extra cab truck with black or dark rims can be seen on the video driving back and forth in front of the same gate the suspect used to access the campus.

Burglary: 900 block of Foothill Boulevard. A restaurant manager reported that the business had been broken into at about 7:01 a.m. Friday, with video surveillance showing one black male suspect arriving at the location at about 6:55 a.m. and two other black males arriving minutes later — one of whom shattered one of the restaurant’s glass doors with a crowbar.

All three men then entered the business and began ransacking it. At about 7:13 a.m., the three left the scene through the same door and headed north into the parking lot.

All three suspects are described in the report as about 20 to 25 years old, 5 feet 6 to 6 feet tall, of medium builds, and all wearing hooded black sweatshirts.

The restaurant manager reported that the night before, the employee who locked up the business at closing forgot to set the alarm. Nothing was reported missing, although a cash drawer and safe were damaged.

March 4

Burglary: 100 block of Lamour Drive. A woman reported that she locked her residence at about 3 p.m. on Friday and returned home at about 7:30 p.m. Saturday to find a rear sliding-glass door smashed. It was apparent the entire house had been ransacked, with items thrown on the floor.

A diamond and gold wedding ring had been stolen, along with a diamond pendant necklace and a ruby necklace and ring set. Also taken was an unspecified amount of U.S. currency, a new XBox 360 gaming system and an Apple Mac Pro.

An eyeglass case containing a pair of sunglasses belonging to the victim was found by a responding deputy on the front curb of the residence.

March 6

Petty theft: 1500 block of Foothill Boulevard. While a deputy was in the parking lot at La Cañada Imports he was approached by a man who told him that in the same lot, on March 1, between about 12:30 and 1:30 p.m., someone took a Maruyama blower that had been left unsecured in the back of his truck while his two employees, who had been using his truck, were in the restaurant having lunch.

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Carol Cormaci, carol.cormaci@latimes.com

Twitter: @CarolCormaci