At a press conference headed by the L.A. County District Attorney’s Office Wednesday, L.A. County Sheriff Robert Luna described the recent arrests of suspects in an investigation into a multi-county burglary ring, including three who are suspected in a Newhall burglary.
District Attorney Nathan Hochman spoke at the conference alongside prosecutors, L.A. Police Department heads, Ventura County’s sheriff and other officials following the arrest of a total of seven defendants suspected of burglaries throughout the two counties.
Luna told conference viewers over Instagram Live that part of the point of the conference was to remind the public that law enforcement officials are working to respond to coordinated home burglaries in and around the San Fernando Valley.
“The message that will be reiterated is very clear to anybody who has been victimized as a victim of residential burglary, or those that are out there worried about the fact that law enforcement is paying attention,” Luna said. “That’s what we’re doing here today, to send a very clear message to every victim … that we are paying attention.”
The three suspects in the local case — 26-year-old Christopher Sanchez, 24-year-old Owen Rivera-Chacon and 27-year-old Edisson Fabian Boyaca — have each been charged with residential burglary in connection to a May 1 incident in the 24000 block of Matthew Place. Two of the suspects were arrested at the scene, while the third was arrested three days later.
Those suspects were arrested following a tip from investigators from the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office, Luna said.
On the night of the burglary, Luna said, investigators from Ventura County Sheriff’s Department’s East County Special Enforcement Unit contacted the LASD Major Crimes Bureau about a suspected burglary crew in Ventura County that could also be operating in the Santa Clarita Valley.
The unit gave them information about vehicles believed to have been used in past burglaries.
“At the time, our Major Crimes Bureau detectives had already been conducting burglary suppression operations alongside with deputies from our Santa Clarita Station special assignment team,” Luna said.
After Ventura County investigators contacted L.A. County’s, L.A. County Sheriff’s Major Crimes Bureau detectives and Santa Clarita deputies began a coordinated surveillance and takedown operation, Luna said.
Investigators intercepted a vehicle believed to be leaving the burglary with a traffic stop on the southbound Interstate 5 freeway at Roxford Avenue in Los Angeles. Three suspects fled on foot. Two were caught in the area, while one was caught on May 4, Luna said.
Their preliminary hearing is scheduled for June 2 in Department G of the San Fernando Courthouse.
Luna showed news conference viewers devices that’ve allegedly been used during burglary operations, including a box covered in fake turf with a hole at the top for a phone camera. Luna said a Wi-Fi jamming device was found on one of the arrested suspects, and pulled out a gray box with thin tubes coming out of one end.
“The suspects carry it to jam your camera system and other Wi-Fi devices connected to the cloud,” Luna said.
Luna said that, besides installing camera systems that don’t rely on Wi-Fi, people whose homes may be a target for burglars can protect themselves by being more discrete on social media.
“Don’t tell the world you’re in Paris when you live in L.A., or wherever you’re traveling to, because it’s not just the people you want to know that know you’re away, it’s these individuals that are very sophisticated and use that against you,” Luna said.
