By Tim Broughton
Mirror Contributor
Break Time.
On Monday, January 23, at 11:03 a.m. officers of the Santa Monica Police department were called out to the Sears Department Store, located at 302 Colorado Ave., in order to investigate a theft. When the officers arrived at the location they spoke with the Sears loss prevention agent and discovered that when the suspect had entered the store he had been recognized by staff members as being a person of interest in previous thefts from the store. The loss prevention agent had surreptitiously followed this man around and observed the individual conceal four watches from the display cabinets inside a bag that he had been carrying. The loss prevention agent followed this man as he exited the store and apprehended him outside. The loss prevention agent asked this man about the watches and the man responded by removing the watches from his bag and throwing them down to the ground before he fled the scene. The loss prevention agent kept an eye on the movements of this man and when the officers arrived on the scene the loss prevention officer pointed him out to the police. The officers arrested this 50-year-old Bellflower resident and he was later charged with theft of the timepieces. Bail was set at $5,000.
Right Time, Wrong Place.
On Tuesday, January 25, at 4:10 p.m. officers of the Santa Monica Police Department were o patrol in the area of 14th Street and Santa Monica Boulevard when they spotted a man who was in the act of urinating in the street. The officers watched as this man finished urination and then walk eastbound on Santa Monica Boulevard. The officers approached this man and started to speak with him. The officers quickly realized that this man was heavily intoxicated and that he clearly was not in a fit state to care for himself so they arrested him. The officers asked this man what his name was and the man gave the officers a fake name so they took him to jail where he was later charged with providing false information to officers, being drunk in public and urinating in a public place. Bail was set at $5,000.
Bye Bye Bicycles.
On Tuesday, January 25, at 2 a.m. officers of the Santa Monica Police Department were on patrol in the 600 block of Navy Street when they chanced upon a man who was riding a bicycle that was not equipped with any lights and who was also pushing a second bicycle along with one of his hands. The officers found this to be somewhat suspicious so they stopped this man and began to ask some questions about the situation. The man was very furtive when asked about the bicycles and evasive when asked who the bicycles belonged to so the officers asked the man if he would consent to a search of his person. The man reluctantly agreed and so the officers searched him and discovered that the man was in possession of numerous tools that corresponded to the kind typically used by bicycle thieves to steal bicycles. The officers arrested this 25-year-old Westchester, California resident and he was charged with receiving stolen property and possession of burglary tools. Bail was set at $1,000.
Find My iThieves.
On Wednesday, January 26, at 3 p.m. officers of the Santa Monica Police Department received a radio call informing them that a vehicular burglary had just occurred in Parking Structure Number Six, located at 1431 Second St., The officers rushed to the scene. Upon arrival at the location the officers met with the female victim who told them that several items, including a laptop computer, had been taken from the vehicle. The victim added that he had seen a suspicious looking character inside the parking structure and that this person had entered a light colored Honda Civic. The victim told the officers that she was in the process of tracking her laptop computer with the aid of an application installed on her phone. This application called “Find My iPhone.” This software can be utilized to find any Apple device such as iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, or MacBook Computer. The application reported that her laptop was in the area of the Pacific Coast Highway and Entrada Road so other officers were alerted and apprehended a suspect vehicle in the Chevron Gas Station located a 14791 Pacific Coast Highway. The occupants of this vehicle were detained while the victim was transported to the location. Upon arrival at the Chevron Gas Station the victim positively identified the suspect as being the suspicious looking man she had seen at the parking lot earlier. The officers then searched the suspect vehicle and this resulted in the discovery of the victim’s laptop and other items including multiple credit cards, burglary tools, methamphetamine and narcotics paraphernalia. Both of the occupants of the vehicle were arrested and suspect number one, aged 34 and from Hayward, California was charged with burglary, identity theft, transportation of methamphetamine and possession of stolen credit cards. Bail for this man was set at $50,000. Suspect number two, aged 36 and from Fremont, California was charged with burglary, transportation of methamphetamine and receiving stolen property with bail also being set at $50,000.
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.
