Crime Report: Pharmacy burglarized; Stolen check used at sporting goods store
La Cañada Flintridge
Oct. 13
Vandalism; graffiti: 1900 block of Verdugo Boulevard. Deputies were conducting a patrol check of the Park and Ride area at about 10 a.m. when they saw black spray-painted graffiti that appeared to have been made recently on a south-facing retaining wall. Photos of the area were taken and booked into evidence at the Crescenta Valley Station, and the Public Works Department was notified.
Oct. 14
Burglary, business: 529 Foothill Blvd. Deputies responded to a burglary alarm call at around 3 a.m. and learned from the owner of Flintridge Pharmacy that someone had forced entry into his business by shattering the glass of the front door. The suspect went to the area where medications are stored and ransacked two first-floor offices and the medication storage area. The owner said he did not know what might have been taken, because he needed to do inventory, but he said he thought the business’ upstairs area was not disturbed. Deputies recovered a red, metal flashlight, not belonging to the store owner, from the floor of the medication storage room and booked it into evidence so fingerprints might be taken from it.
Oct. 18
Grand theft: 900 block of Foothill Boulevard. A woman told deputies that while she was shopping sometime between 2:15 and 3:15 p.m., someone stole her wallet from her purse as it sat inside her shopping cart. The woman didn’t realize her Kenneth Cole wallet, which contained currency, her driver’s license and credit and debit cards for several accounts, was missing until she went to the register to pay for her items.
La Crescenta
Oct. 14
Identity theft: 2600 block of Mayfield Avenue. A man reported that unknown persons had made unauthorized purchases on his Wells Fargo checking account between Sept. 2 and Oct. 13. He said he first noticed the charges on Oct. 9 and called a representative from the bank’s fraud department. The man couldn’t freeze the account, as he still had legitimate charges pending. Four days later, he learned of another fraudulent purchase, made on Oct. 13 at Verizon Wireless, nearly identical to the Sept. 2 charge. The charges had been made by e-checks in a woman’s name the victim recognized as someone who’d earlier attempted to rent a property from him.
Oct. 15
Forgery; petty theft: 2900 block of Fairway Avenue. A man told deputies that on Sept. 9, he’d ordered checks for his business from Costco to be delivered to his home. Three weeks later, when the checks still hadn’t come, the man called Costco and was advised to follow the online delivery tracking number for the order. He found out the checks had been delivered on Sept. 11 and left at his front door. He put a hold on all the checks, but later learned from a bank representative one check had been made out to Sport Chalet with the suspect’s signature on it.
Montrose
Oct. 18
Receiving stolen property; petty theft, shoplifting: 2100 block of Montrose Avenue. Deputies responded to a call regarding suspicious persons behind a closed business at 5:25 p.m. Upon their arrival, they encountered two male suspects standing inside a medical building underground parking unit and detained them pending investigation.
The two transient men, described as a 26-year-old white Tujunga male and a 26-year-old Latino male from Sunland, were in possession of a black nylon handbag and a gray backpack. The first man admitted to having a meth pipe in his handbag, but when deputies opened it, they saw it also contained two unopened bottles of Patron tequila. The man said he got the bottles from his uncle. The backpack belonging to the second man contained three unopened bottles of Ketel One vodka. The man eventually admitted they’d come from an area Vons market.
Surveillance footage later showed the suspects stealing the vodka earlier that day at around 4:15 p.m. The men were booked at the Crescenta Valley Sheriff’s Station.
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Sara Cardine, sara.cardine@latimes.com
Twitter: @SaraCardine
