Huntington Seashore residence burglaries could also be tied to South American theft ring

HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. (KABC) — Residents dwelling in a Huntington Seashore neighborhood are on edge after a string of burglaries, and police suspect the thieves could also be tied to a South American theft ring.

For instance, a house surveillance digicam captured three males working out of Cari Castaneda’s Huntington Habour residence in April.

“Alarm, cameras, canine indicators, gates in entrance of my home. I believed I had all of it locked down and right here we’re,” Castaneda mentioned.

Within the video, the suspects jumped right into a getaway automobile and vanished.

“They received in by the second flooring window. It was into a toilet, went into the main bedroom, broke our safes out of the wall, took the safes with them,” Castaneda mentioned. “We misplaced a few quarter of one million {dollars} in money and jewellery.”

Lisa Rudy’s residence was hit the very same means two months earlier than.

“The glass was shattered. There was a really small gap in my upstairs balcony door,” Rudy mentioned. “The thieves had walked by that little gap, gone straight to my main bedroom which they proceeded to ransack, steal my protected and different valuables.”

Huntington Seashore police mentioned in Huntington Harbour there have been almost 30 break-ins since January of final 12 months.

“In simply our neighborhood, in these 30 burglaries, we all know there have been thousands and thousands of {dollars} taken, thousands and thousands of {dollars},” Rudy mentioned.

Residence break-ins are an issue throughout the nation.

Nevertheless, Jennifer Carey, public affairs supervisor for town of Huntington Seashore, mentioned they have not see a major spike within the metropolis.

Metropolis information confirmed in 2019 police reported 167 residential burglaries.

To date this 12 months, 115 have been investigated.

Whereas HBPD cannot definitively say these current burglaries in Huntington Harbour are all tied to a selected group, Carey mentioned they’ve observed a sample related to South American theft teams.

“These patterns embrace break-ins by the second flooring window or door. It additionally contains focusing on sure houses which have fairly a little bit of house within the rear of the property, and we do discover that they have an inclination to make use of rental vehicles to slot in with the encircling space,” Carey mentioned.

She mentioned police have elevated neighborhood patrols and put in surveillance cameras.

They warn these thieves could also be scoping out houses forward of time.

Listed below are just a few security ideas from the HBPD to guard your home if you find yourself not residence:

1. Activate exterior lights at evening and, if attainable, set up motion-sensing exterior lights that robotically activate and off.
2. Lock all home windows, exterior doorways, gates and storage doorways that present entry into your property.
3. Trim again or take away landscaping that gives hiding locations round susceptible doorways and home windows.
4. Whereas on trip, organize for somebody to choose up your mail and mow the garden. Do not promote that your private home is vacant.
5. Contemplate getting a monitored alarm system with audible warnings to scare intruders away. In case you have a second-story residence, ensure the alarm system is put in upstairs, too.
6. When you find yourself away from your private home, do not announce it on social media, i.e., real-time trip images and updates.

Rudy and Castaneda mentioned they’ll stay vigilant to guard their neighborhood.

“It is a horrible feeling to know any person has been in your house,” Rudy mentioned.

“My greatest factor is that I hope it does not occur to anyone else,” Castaneda mentioned.

Police are wanting into the potential for imposing non permanent avenue closures to restrict the quantity of site visitors that goes by sure areas.