Police Blotter: More Tagging, Bagging and Fraud

The check (fraud) is in the mail:
On April 14, a resident reported that a $12,075 check—written by his employer to vendor the Shopping Center—had been intercepted by a third party and fraudulently cashed. A second check for $10,000 was mailed along with the first check, but they never arrived, according to the vendor. After reviewing his account online, the resident discovered that the $12,075 check had been cashed  April 5 and the payee line reportedly made out to Hassan Richard Hamad. The name had been "printed using some kind of computer," according to a police report. The resident's bank put a stop on the second check along with a fraud alert in the event someone tries to cash it.

'Next' to godliness:
A member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Rowell Avenue reported 16 instances of graffiti on the church's exterior walls, doors and windows April 18. In each case, the word "NEXT" was either scrawled in green marker along the walls or etched into the windows with an undetermined tool. The graffiti varied in size from approximately 2-inches  to 2-feet high. Officers retrieved fingerprints from the church's nursery door. The church member stated he was "unsure if the church is desirous of prosecution," according to a police report.

Third row seats still a hot item:
An employee of a store in the Manhattan Village Mall reported vandalism to his 2001 GMC Yukon on April 19. The truck was parked in the lot to the rear of Macy's, and its right front door lock was damaged. A police report stated that the truck's door had been "punched with an unknown object to gain entry into the vehicle."

The truck's interior was "clean and there were no items that would attract the attention of a suspect, with the exception of the third row seat," according to the report. Police have been dealing with a rash of such thefts or attempted thefts in the last several months.

Madrid calling:
Later that same morning, an employee of a local business reported that someone had used her boss' e-mail account to ask for money from everyone in the boss' online address book. She was first alerted by a "suspicious e-mail" in her inbox. In the e-mail, someone posing as the employee's boss wrote that he was stuck at the Madrid Airport in Spain and needed her to wire him 1,200 euros via Western Union for hotel and food costs. The employee reportedly knew right away that the e-mail was fraudulent because her boss was present when she read it. The employee also told police that she had received "an unusually high volume" of phone calls at the office that morning from concerned clients who received the same e-mail.

Tagger has fertile imagination:
On April 20, a resident reported vandalism to the common area between his and a neighbor's unit in a condominium complex in the 4000 block of Ocean Drive. "Suspect(s) used a wet finger or unknown object to write, possibly partially scratching the wall paint," read a police report. In addition to an unprintable phrase, the exterior wall of the complex was marked with the words "Pelado" and "Semener," both written upside down, along with some illegible words and letters. There were also drawings of a flower, a penis, a face with "horns or large ears" and several other indiscernible markings. Some of the writing was done at a height of more than 6 feet, the reporting officer said.

Sucker for free gas:
An off-duty employee of the Parks and Recreation Department reported seeing someone April 21 siphoning gas from a city van into a container. The suspect was described as a thin white male in his early 20s wearing a black and white checkered, hooded sweatshirt. The city employee backed away from the area and called police. A few seconds later, the employee returned and reported seeing two previously parked 1988-1990 Chevrolet Suburbans—one dark and one teal—"rapidly fleeing" the area. Police lifted two fingerprints from the city van's gas tank door.

Lost, found and stolen:
On April 19, $129 in cash was stolen from the Valvoline Instant Oil Change on Sepulveda Boulevard.

Later that day, a resident turned in an Audi car key and a residential door key to police that he found in the 900 block of Crest Drive.

Also on April 19, a man's pants, cell phone and wallet were stolen from his locker at 24 Hour Fitness. The combination lock used to secure the locker was also missing.

A woman reported April 20 that $450 was fraudulently debited from her Bank of America account and credited to PayPal. The woman does not have a PayPal account.

Another woman that same day reported a bogus purchase of a $120 Greyhound bus ticket on her Bank of America statement.