A man posing as a plumber was arrested on Thursday, Oct. 8, after being caught trying to steal pipes from a Santa Monica apartment complex.
At 9:45 am officers of the Santa Monica Police Department were called out to a complex located in the 2100 block of Cloverfield Blvd. in order to investigate a report of a possible theft of “metal parts” that was taking place at that time.
Upon arrival the officers spotted a suspect and decided to have a chat with him.
The officers asked this man what he was doing in the enclosed area of the property that housed the water heater, gas meters, and electrical panels.
This man told the officers that he had been hired as a day laborer and had been asked to “fix some plumbing.”
The officers asked this man to name the person who had hired him and he gave them what transpired to be a fictitious name.
The officers also spotted a truck registered in this man’s name parked in the area but when questioned the man denied that it was his truck.
The truck contained various tools and other work items.
As the officers were speaking with this man the property manager arrived on the scene and told the officers that she did not know who this man was and had certainly not hired him to perform any work on the premises.
The officers then looked inside the truck, this time paying more attention to the details, and discovered water valves and cut water pipes that appeared to have been removed from the property.
This 49-year-old Los Angeles resident was arrested and charged with theft. Bail was set at $1,000.
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.
