Update: La Cañada Flintridge Rose float equipment stolen
This post was updated to include more information about the ongoing investigation.
Thieves allegedly stole thousands of dollars worth of equipment from a La Cañada Flintridge site late on Saturday night where a float for the 2014 Rose Parade is being built.
Ann Neilson, president of the La Cañada Flintridge Tournament of Rose Assn., said workers discovered welding equipment, cables, large extension cords, power cables and copper wiring missing on Sunday morning. The equipment was very heavy, said Neilson.
“It’s not just stealing stuff,” she said. “All the good people who support us, they have taken away from those people.”
The association estimated the loss at around $7,500, she said. The frame for the float, “Dog Gone!,” which features a dog catcher running after a truck full of dogs, was intact.
Copper wiring from a storage unit at a nearby private high school was also reported missing.
The incident occurred between 10 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 12 and 8:15 a.m. on Sunday, Oct. 13. The items were in a storage locker on a lot behind the Foothill Municipal Water District office on Hampton Road. Det. Roger Burt of the Crescenta Valley Sheriff’s Station said the suspects gained access to the lot by cutting a hole in a fence at Flintridge Preparatory School and walking across a field on the school’s campus to reach the area where the equipment was stored. Several locks were cut to access the property and the storage unit, he said.
Detectives are currently investigating the incident and looking at surveillance footage to find any leads.
Lunch supplies for float workers that were stored in the freezer, including hot dogs, chips and soda, were also missing, Neilson said. The food items that remained included candy, cookies and diet soda.
Neilson said the organization’s float construction site hasn’t seen thefts in recent years, but welding equipment was stolen several years ago.
With a little over two months to go before volunteers start decorating the float with flowers for the parade on Jan. 1, the association now has to scramble to replace equipment in order to finish their float.
“We can’t spend $7,500 so we have to do that gradually,” said Neilson. “We’ll buy what we need to buy to get the float finished.”
Donations are being accepted on the association’s website at www.lcftra.org.
[Editor’s Note: This post includes more information about the current investigation.]
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