The California crime wave continues unabated. The main difference between this wave and previous ones is gangs are specifically targeting high-end homes and the wealthy.
Recently, the San Diego area high-end neighborhood of La Jolla was struck by an organized theft ring. The brazen thieves were caught on camera hauling away a safe.
Around 9:30 p.m. Friday, Edgar Diaz Garza got a Ring camera alert on his phone while he was out of town.Video shows three men, two of them carrying a large safe out of his home off Via Capri. One of the thieves is seen smacking the camera on his way out.“It’s a terrible feeling because you see them taking your stuff,” said Diaz Garza.Diaz Garza says the men scaled a neighbor’s fence and his fence, then broke windows, before smashing a bathroom window and targeting the safe in a bedroom closet.“It’s scary. It also makes you mad. You need to work, so they can enjoy,” said Diaz Garza.Inside the safe was a cache of jewelry and watches, full of sentimental value.
In April, I noted that South American gangs were heading to California for a spot of tourism….crime tourism.
They have been busy, though two Chilean nations were caught and have recently pleaded guilty for robberies in Ventura County.
Two Chilean nationals charged with organized retail theft in Ventura County pleaded guilty Tuesday, according to District Attorney Erik Nasarenko.Esperanza Venejas, 25, and Hugo Perez Martinez, 26, pleaded guilty to the charges that stemmed from an April arrest in Thousand Oaks.The two Chileans were arrested on April 15, after deputies from the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office responded to a report of a vehicle break-in at the Oaks shopping mall. When deputies arrived on scene, four people, including both Venejas and Martinez, fled the area on foot.Deputies were able to track down Venejas who was with an unidentified juvenile. Meanwhile, Martinez went back to the vehicle and drove off. He was eventually located and arrested as well.A bag filled with about $2,500 worth of stolen merchandise from a Macy’s department store was recovered at the scene, the DA’s office said.
One Ventura County homeowner managed to nab another Chilean national as he was allegedly robbing the house.
Alexis Provoste Aranguiz, 43, of Chile, was arrested Friday after a harrowing encounter with the owner of an Oak Park home, according to Ventura County Dist. Atty. Erik Nasarenko.The incident unfolded around 6:30 p.m. when the owner returned home and spotted an SUV idling in front of his residence. The owner entered the house and encountered a burglar, whom he struck, Nasarenko said. That burglar fled outside and into the waiting vehicle.The homeowner then encountered a second burglar — later identified as Aranguiz — and detained him until Ventura County sheriff’s deputies arrived.“There was a physical confrontation and the homeowner basically held down the suspect until the police showed up,” said Capt. Cameron Henderson of the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office.
Welcome to the Golden State, where politicians focus on inanities as our formerly safe cities are the destination of choice for crime tourists!
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