Santa Monica police arrested a 26-year-old Lynwood man on parole on Thursday, Nov. 28 after he was spotted eating and living in a house while the homeowners were away.
Officers of the Santa Monica Police Department received a report of a burglary in progress in the 2500 block of Seventh Street at 5:24 pm on this day, so they rushed to the location in order to investigate.
A neighbor had apparently seen some shadowy motion inside the residence that didn’t correspond to the type of movement that was typical at the domicile, and the neighbor was also aware that the resident was away from the home at the time, and had been for a couple of days.
The officers arrived and also noticed that that there was visible movement of a human being inside the residence.
The officers entered the house and discovered a man inside.
The officers took this man into custody without any further incident.
The officers then inspected the house and found that many items had been removed from their typical storage positions within the residence and had been placed on the dining room table.
The stove was also turned on, and it appeared that someone other than the lawful resident had been eating and living in the house.
There was a load of laundry in the washing machine (it transpired that these clothing items belonged to the resident but had been placed inside the machine by the suspect) and the bathtub had been recently used.
The bed had also been slept in.
The officers contacted the owners of the property and they immediately returned home.
They then told the officers that they did not know this suspect and had not given anyone permission to use the residence while they were absent.
The officers arrested this man and he was charged with burglary and a violation of parole.
Bail was not granted.
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.
