A robbery was reported at a store in the 2100 block of Foothill Boulevard on Dec. 23 at 1:50 p.m. The assistant store manager told a deputy that a loss prevention specialist saw an employee attempting to stop a man from taking a clothing rack that had multiple handbags on it. The suspect then walked past the cash registers and theft prevention sensors with the metal rack. Afterward, the employee tried to grab onto the rack to stop the suspect from leaving while another employee jumped in to help. The employees eventually let go of the rack and the suspect walked out of the store with the items, but then threw the rack and the merchandise onto the ground in the parking lot. As one of the employees tried to retrieve the merchandise, the suspect charged toward him with his hands in closed fists as if he wanted to fight. The suspect then entered a black Kia sedan and drove westbound on Foothill Boulevard. The merchandise and rack were recovered by loss prevention and returned to the business.
An attempted burglary was reported in the 900 block of Big Briar Way on Dec. 14 at 9:37 a.m. Two men, one in a white hoodie and black ski mask, attempted to pry open a back door of a residence before fleeing southbound in a gray four-door sedan. A victim was in her bedroom working when she noticed two shadows through her window moving westbound in the backyard. She also heard a “beeping” and “booping” sound coming from the backyard, and then heard a doorknob jiggling. She said that her gardener was not scheduled to come to work that day and when she walked into her living room, she looked over to the backyard patio and saw a 6-foot, 140- to 160-pound man wearing a white hoodie and black ski mask lying down on his stomach looking into the living room from the outside. The second man, with the same description, was standing a few feet behind the first suspect. The victim screamed at the suspect, who immediately ran toward the east side gate out toward the front yard into the gray sedan. She did not see if there was a driver already inside of the vehicle, or if one of the suspects got into the driver’s seat. She then called the authorities to report the crime. While on the phone, she heard a “crackling” sound, which came from the shattered kitchen nook door. There was a 3-to-5-inch hole in the lower portion of the glass door. The victim had a “Blink” camera at the front door, but it did not capture the incident. Later that day, the victim told the deputy that her neighbor provided photos of a beige or tan four-door Mercedes completing a U-turn at the end of the cul-de-sac around the same time of the incident.
A theft by false pretense occurred in the 1900 block of Ravista Lane on Dec. 21 at 3:03 p.m. The deputy responded to the property regarding a suspected elderly abuse report. The victim received a phone call from Bank of America and the employee questioned the victim about an open account in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and the victim said he did not open an account there and asked to close it. The caller said that there were two Zelle transactions pending and needed to reverse them so they would not ruin his credit score. The caller instructed the victim to link his Bank of America and Wells Fargo debit cards to the Zelle account. The caller then told the victim to create a new contact in his phone titled, “IT DEPT” and to send the code provided to the contact via text message. The victim gave the code to the caller via text message, which was linked to Apple cash. The victim’s wife then received a text message from Bank of America regarding the Apple cash and reported it as fraud. Bank of America cancelled the transaction and the wife notified him of the fraudulent activity. They then notified Wells Fargo about the activity. The victim’s wife was not present during the investigation.
Editor’s note: Details included in the Sheriff’s crime report are taken directly from the deputies’ reports on file at the Crescenta Valley Sheriff’s station. The Outlook Valley Sun is not responsible for the incompleteness or inaccuracies in the original reports.
First published in the December 28 print issue of the Outlook Valley Sun.
