On Sunday, Oct. 23, at 12:45 p.m. officers of the Santa Monica Police Department went to the 1300 block of Euclid Street in order to investigate a residential burglary report. When they arrived at the location the officers spoke with the victim who told them what had happened.
Apparently, the victim had returned to his apartment and had noticed that his bathroom window was broken, and that several of his possessions were missing. He then went to his neighbor’s apartment in order to see if he knew anything about the obvious burglary. As he was asking the neighbor he saw that a number of his items were in fact inside the neighbor’s apartment. The victim left and called the police at that point.
The officers then spoke with the neighbor, who explained that when the victim had left his apartment he had left his front door open, and so, being a kind and considerate neighbor he had simply entered the apartment and decided which items he needed to take back to his own apartment so that they would be safe, and not be stolen should a burglar happen to wander by and notice that the door was open. In effect, the suspect admitted taking the property, and based upon the (glaring?) evidence the officers arrested this 35-year-old resident of Santa Monica and he was charged with possession of stolen property, and a violation of probation. Bail was set at $10,000.
Editor’s Note: These reports are part of a regular police coverage series entitled “Alert Police Blotter” (APB), which injects some minor editorial into certain police activities in Santa Monica. Not all of the Mirror’s coverage of incidents involving police are portrayed in this manner. More serious crimes and police-related activities are regularly reported without editorial in the pages of the Santa Monica Mirror and its website, smmirror.com.
