An out-of-town man and woman were arrested this week on suspicion of burglary after the man allegedly entered a Bridegeport home while the homeowner and child were still inside.
The daring daylight break-in, which deputies are calling “brazen,” happened about 12:30 p.m. on Nov. 18 at a home on the 24100 block of High Tides Drive, Valencia.
“A brazen suspect allegedly entered through an unlocked side garage door, gaining access to the kitchen of the main house, while the victim and her child were home,” said Shirley Miller, spokeswoman for the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station.
“The suspect took the victim’s handbag containing a wallet, miscellaneous credit cards, along with personal electronics, and then left the scene in a sedan being driven by another suspect,” she said.
Local detectives called in detectives assigned to the Major Crimes Bureau Burglary Robbery Task Force of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department for help in identifying the suspects.
The collaboration paid off, Miller said, when local detectives — with the help of the specialty LASD unit — were able to identify the suspects, “a male adult and a female adult, from surveillance video,” Miller said.
“Extensive research led LASD unit detectives to the Antelope Valley on Tuesday as they identified the city of Palmdale as the location of the suspects’ residence,” she said.
When neither suspect was found at the Palmdale location, detectives on the joint forces operation continued their search and stepped up their research.
They soon uncovered leads. Miller said. that led them to suspects possibly living in the South L.A. area, and “so that’s where detectives deployed to.”
Their persistence and hard work paid off, she said.
The two burglary suspects identified as Reginald Bowens, 28, and Denneisha Johnson, 30, of Palmdale, were located.
The pair was arrested on suspicion of felony burglary and are under active investigation, Miller said, in connection with multiple other burglaries in Southern California.
Bowers was found to have an extensive criminal record and was under post-release community supervision.
The case was filed at the Los Angeles County San Fernando Court District Attorney’s Office in San Fernando on Thursday.
Bowens was charged with one count of burglary and two counts of identity theft. He remains in custody in lieu of $185,000 bail.
Johnson was charged with one count of burglary and three counts of identity theft. Johnson remains in custody with bail set at $200,000.
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