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Crime & Safety

Police Blotter: iPhones, iPods on Thieves' A-List

Undetected home invasion burglary happened in Manhattan Beach. No one injured.

Apple’s iPhone, a red-hot seller since it was first introduced four years ago, has proved irresistible to local thieves. In the last several weeks, the handy-dandy mobile device has been pilfered from cars, homes and, most recently, from a restaurant, a middle school, and even the dressing room of a local country club.

Last Sunday afternoon (Feb. 13), a father and his 7-year-old son left an iPhone in the family changing area of the Manhattan Country Club while they went for a swim. When they returned an hour later, the phone had vanished. After realizing the thief had deleted some of his emails, the father contacted his cell phone provider to disable the phone.

In a separate incident the night before, a patron at Shark’s Cove on Manhattan Beach Boulevard left his iPhone and keys in the pocket of a brown leather jacket while he took a turn on the dance floor. When he returned to collect his jacket, it and his valuables were gone. When police requested the carrier, AT&T, to trace the phone, they were told that a subpoena would be required “because it wasn’t a life-threatening matter.”

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On Tuesday, Feb. 15, a young student at Manhattan Beach Middle School left his iPhone is his backpack while he did pushups with other students. When he returned, his backpack had been opened and his iPhone was gone.

iPhones aren’t the only highly portable Apple product to entice local thieves; iPods are attracting vandals, especially in local schools.

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On Feb. 8, two 15-year-old boys told the school resource officer at Mira Costa High School that their iPhones—one an iPod Classic and the other an iPod Touch—had been stolen from their backpacks during third-period gym class. The backpacks had been stowed in the boys locker room. A month earlier, a 16-year-old student reported the loss of his iPod Touch, blue jeans, wallet and $25 cash, all removed from his gym locker.

BBQ, bike nabbed

Also reported to police lately was a stolen barbecue, apparently taken from the subterranean garage of an apartment building in the 600 block of Aviation Way on Feb. 14 or 15 when its cable lock was snipped, and an unlocked yellow men’s Schwinn beach cruiser, removed from the back of The Comic Bug on Manhattan Beach Boulevard on Feb. 11.

Night out costs woman dearly

An evening at Houston’s Restaurant proved costly for a Manhattan Beach woman on Feb. 15. As she enjoyed a drink at the bar, her brown Louis Vuitton wallet was lifted from her purse, which had been slung over the back of the chair. The wallet contained $250 in cash, her driver’s license, a diamond horseshoe necklace on a platinum chain, and two credit cards. Adding insult to injury, she discovered soon after arriving home that her credit cards had been used to make a $2,707.46 purchase at the Manhattan Village Apple store and a $916.91 purchase at the Best Buy in El Segundo. A third charge at the Hawthorne Best Buy was unsuccessful, since the woman had cancelled her card.

Lost and Found: Motorcycle Gear

Police on routine patrol on Feb. 14 observed a young man in apparent flight along Ingleside Drive toward Hermosa Beach. Unable to stop the runner, they returned to the Manhattan Beach intersection of Francisco Street and Morningside Drive where they had first spotted the runner. There they found a motorcycle helmet, black leather jacket, two gloves, a tripod and a single boot. Know anything about these items? They’re being held in police “found property.”

Video-game bandit strikes rec center

Earlier in the month, a Microsoft Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii, along with multiple games, and other game components were swiped from the Manhattan Heights Park recreation building. The theft occurred sometime between Feb. 4 and 7. A cabinet containing the games was dented from apparent manhandling and open on one side. Other valuable hardware, including DVD players and guitar players for video-game systems, were untouched. Since there was no sign of forced entry into the building, police concluded that one or both of the entry doors had probably been left open.

Surfboard, wetsuit, other gear stolen

Over that same weekend, a surfer reported that his 6' 3" Channel Islands Whip surfboard with “Channel Islands Al Merrick” stamped on it was swiped from a rack outside his residence in the 300 block of 6th Street. Also taken was the man’s black Lotus wetsuit, wetsuit gloves and hood and surfboard leash. Several other surfboards on the rack next to his were left behind.

Home invasion nets Citizen watch, class ring and coins

While a 65-year-old man and his office manager were conducting business at his home office in the 300 block of Homer Street, an intruder apparently entered his unlocked front entrance on Feb. 8, stealing a Citizen watch, a 1963 Mira Costa gold class ring and miscellaneous coins. The man’s 22-year-old niece, recovering from an illness, was asleep in a room with the door closed and didn’t hear a thing.

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