Crime Report: Spate of overnight car break-ins linked, some property recovered in alley

Sept. 10

Burglary, vandalism: 300 block of Blythe Road, La Cañada. A gardener working at the property notified the homeowner that he’d found a guest house window shattered. The last time it was seen intact was on Sept. 3. No items were reported stolen.

Sept. 11

Burglary: 600 block of De Nova Street, La Cañada. A woman who left her home at 10:28 a.m. and returned less than an hour later discovered about 10 minutes after she’d arrived home that her bedroom had been ransacked and a window had been opened. Checking on two other bedrooms, she found those ransacked as well. Items including several wallets, a handbag and cash that belonged to her were found inside a backpack belonging to her son that someone had left dropped near the rear living room windows. Surveillance video at a nearby address recorded an unfamiliar dark-colored SUV parked on the street for a few hours that morning and that moved to a different address on the victim’s block at around the time of the break-in.

Mail theft: 2500 block of Teasley Street, La Crescenta. A man reported that his security camera captured the 12:06 p.m. Sept. 9 theft from his front patio of a package addressed to him that contained a new credit card. The footage showed a blond white female carrying a clipboard approach his home. She saw the package, bent over and picked it up and left, driving away in a late model silver or gray compact car. The victim learned that at about 6:40 p.m. that day, someone used the stolen credit card to attempt to make a transaction with a business not identified in the report.

Sept.12

Burglary: 5400 block of Arroyo Summit Drive, La Cañada. At 7:15 a.m. a housekeeper visiting the property, which she said is operated as short-term vacation rental, found it ransacked and the sliding glass door shattered. The housekeeper said the last time she’d been at the house was at 9:30 a.m. on Sept. 9. She told the investigating deputy she didn’t believe anything had been stolen.

Burglary: 5700 block of Evening Canyon Drive, La Cañada. A man reported that sometime between 6:15 a.m. Sept. 11 and 6:30 a.m. Sept. 12, someone shattered a sliding glass door at his home and stole two men’s watches and a bottle of tequila. He reported the kitchen cabinets, master bedroom and bath had been ransacked.

Vehicle burglary: 1000 block of Foothill Boulevard, La Cañada. Sometime between 6:30 and 7:45 p.m. someone shattered the front passenger window of a 2017 Honda Civic that had been left parked near businesses. Stolen were a purse, U.S. passport, miscellaneous makeup products and Apple earbuds.

Vehicle burglaries: 1900 block of Foothill Boulevard, La Cañada; 4300 block of Ocean View Boulevard, Montrose; 4400 block of Rockland Place, La Cañada and 2300 block of Barton Lane, Montrose. Seven vehicle burglaries, all believed to be linked, took place between the late evening of Sept. 12 and early morning of Sept. 13. Video captured at an apartment complex on the 4300 block of Ocean View showed a white male behind the wheel of a mid-2000s silver Mercedes four-door C-class with no front plate, a partial rear plate and a sunroof drive into the property shortly after midnight and park near the burglarized cars. He exited the car and faced the video camera directly at one point. He is described as being in his 20s with short, curly dark hair and of slender build. He was wearing a T-shirt with a logo underneath a Hawaiian-style shirt, and he had a white glove on one hand. At 7:40 a.m. that day, items were found in an alley behind the 3400 block of Verdugo Boulevard in Glendale that belonged to five of the seven victims and were returned to the owners who were able to identify them.

Compiled from reports on file at the Crescenta Valley Sheriff’s Station.

Support our coverage by becoming a digital subscriber.