Patio furniture thieves hit La Cañada garden center for sixth time since December

March 24

Grand theft, patio furniture: 1500 block of Foothill Boulevard (Armstrong Garden Center). For the sixth time since Dec. 22, 2017, an employee reported arriving at the business at 7 a.m. to notice that several pieces of patio furniture were missing. The items are kept on display in an outdoor area that is locked overnight. In the latest incident, the store was locked at 9:30 p.m. March 23 and the following items were identified as missing at 7 a.m. the next day: a metal love seat; two wood, stackable armchairs; three wicker stackable chairs and miscellaneous seat cushions. The deputy who took the report noted that the 76 service station across the street had surveillance footage taken when a pickup truck collided with a gas pump, then took off without reporting it. The footage shows furniture in the bed of the truck. When the station’s owner shared it with the Armstrong manager, the latter said the furniture in the truck looked like it could be items missing from his inventory.

March 25

Petty theft: 4600 block of Crown Avenue. Five pieces of mail were taken but recovered between 4:15 and 4:45 p.m. that day. A woman who lives on Baptiste Way was in her kitchen when she saw through a window an unfamiliar black car parked in front of her home. She then saw a black man she described as being in his 30s and wearing a black shirt, walking around her neighbors’ Crown Avenue home. She witnessed him opening the neighbors’ mailbox, reaching in and pulling out mail. She yelled through the window at him, and he put the mail back in the box, got into the car that was parked in front of her home and drove away. When the suspect left, the witness went to the intended victims’ mailbox, pulled out the mail and shoved it under their front door for safekeeping.

March 27

Taking vehicle without owner’s consent, petty theft: 1900 block of Foothill Boulevard. A deputy passing by was flagged down by a man who said he and his girlfriend had been traveling from Costa Mesa toward Simi Valley in his 2009 Chevy Malibu with a male friend named “Brice” who was visiting from Washington. They got lost and pulled over in La Cañada. The couple got out of the Malibu to continue an argument about being lost, while “Brice,” a longtime friend of the woman, remained in the car. About five minutes later they returned to where they’d left the car parked, only to find it missing. In it was the girlfriend’s purse. They told the deputy they thought maybe “Brice” had driven the car to the motel they had planned to stay at in Simi Valley.

April 1

Burglary, vehicle: 4500 block of El Camino Corto. A nanny working at a home there said she’d locked and left her 2012 VW Jetta parked at the curb at 8:45 a.m. that day. At about 10 a.m., she noticed a Latino man wearing a blue shirt and blue pants standing near the trunk of her car, but she thought nothing of it. At 4 p.m., when she arrived at a second employer’s home, she realized that two medicine bottles filled with miscellaneous jewelry pieces she’d placed with some overnight items in a bag and stored in the trunk of her car were missing.