Series of Burglaries in the Westchester Area

LAPD reports a series of burglaries in the area east of Airport and south of Manchester on June 9. These were home break-ins at two houses and two apartments. The suspects apparently entered through unlocked rear windows and took jewelry, cash, and electronics.

Series of Burglaries in the Westchester Area

Keep your windows and doors locked. Also, use opaque (non-transparent) blinds or curtains if you can. This will prevent anyone from looking into the house and seeing where valuables are and when nobody's home. It will also help keep out the summer heat and save on your cooling bill :)

Truck Stolen on Georgetown

A neighbor informs us that her gardener's truck was stolen from the 8400 block of Georgetown Ave. on Thursday, June 9, during the daytime. The gardener was working in the neighbor's back yard, and the truck was parked on the street, with equipment in the bed. The truck was unlocked, but the gardener says the keys were not in it.

It is unfortunate that we should have to worry about these things, but please make sure that if you park a car on the street, you (1) keep it locked, even if you are just away from it for a short time; and (2) do not keep anything that looks like it might be valuable in a visible place -- purse, wallet, cash, electronic devices, equipment, etc. Keep these items in the trunk or under seats and keep the doors locked. Also, if you park a car on the street for an extended time, it's probably best to move the car to a new spot every couple of days, just so it doesn't look unattended.

If you know of any similar incidents, please let us know at 90045.Watch@gmail.

Burglary by Distraction

A neighbor just forwarded the following e-mail from homeowners in Westchester (I believe south of Manchester, East of Sepulveda). Something to watch out for. Note, I've removed the names for privacy.

How are you? I hope you and the family are well. I've not had a
chance to catch up with you lately but wanted to let you know what
happened yesterday.

My next-door neighbors, [--------] and [--------], were robbed while they were
home yesterday afternoon. Long story short, a man in a pickup pulled
up to their house and told [--------], who was working in the garage, that
their neighbor (me) had hired him to do some landscaping in my yard.
The man told [--------] that he needed access to their backyard in order to
get to some landscaping on my side of our fence. He said he wanted to
check right at that moment what he needed to do and would come back
the next day to do it. He told [--------] and [--------] to come around the
side of their house to their backyard, and while he distracted them
for 6-8 minutes, a second man went in through their open front door
and robbed them. When [--------] and [--------] came back around with the first
man, that's when they saw the 2nd man get into the truck, but they
didn't think anything about it. They didn't realize until a few
minutes later that they had been robbed.

Please pass this around to our neighbors so that everyone remains
vigilant about who they let on to their property. The police said
they don't ususally see this kind of robbery, called a "Robbery By
Distraction", here on the Westside but that it's not uncommon in the
Valley. You can never be too careful though. [--------] was especially
concerned for me because the robbers knew it was a female who lived in
my house, so she thinks they could have been watching us beforehand.

Unfortunately, [--------] and [--------] did not get a great description of the
truck. They think it was a light gray pickup truck, maybe a Chevy,
maybe 2002-2004 model. Since there are not usually a lot of cars
parked in front of our houses right there, if anyone happens to have
seen that truck there yesterday around 4pm and remembers what
model/make it was, the [--------]s would appreciate any help. The robber
who spoke to them about "landscaping" was a young white male in his
early 20's, very respectful and nice. The 2nd man was a light-skinned
Hispanic in his mid-30's.

It's very upsetting to see such nice people get taken advantage of and
to lose their family heirlooms. Everyone just needs to be extra
cautious these days, maybe even bordering on paranoid just to play it
safe.

85th Place and Georgetown Burglarized

I returned home tonight about 9:30pm to find my back door wide open having been bashed in with a crowbar and both locks broken. Front door was left wide open, too.

Stolen were my 15" Apple MacBook Pro laptop along with cash and all my jewelry.
If anyone saw or heard anything noisy or suspicious near 85th Place and Georgetown on Monday 4/11 between 7:30 and 9:30pm, please contact me with any information.

PDR Crime Activity

 On Apr 14, 2011, at 4:41 PM, dougnora@aol.com wrote:

 Dear All:

This afternoon in Playa del Rey in the area of the 7800 block of 80th street  a gardener had equipment taken from the back end of his truck while he was  working on a yard in the neighborhood.

This morning in the same area (at approximately 6:15 a.m.) a neighbor, while  walking his dog, saw a young black man with a knit cap on driving slowing  down the street in a dark colored toyota sedan.  This man was looking back  and forth at the houses on either side of the street.  Then 'dog walker' regretted that he did not have his phone to call the police much less take a  picture of the car/license plate.  He has passed this information on to his  neighbors

 It is obvious that we seem to be having a small crime wave.

 Please be aware, set your alarm if you have it and call the police if you see anything strange.

 Nora MacLellan

 Playa del Rey