1.18.24 – NBC Los Angeles – By Anastassia Olmos
OC District Attorney Todd Spitzer said one of the victims was legally blind. The man arrested targeted older adults ages 79 to 88, authorities said.
Law enforcement in Los Angeles and Orange Counties are looking for victims who may have been burglarized by thieves pretending to be employees of their alarm company.
Authorities have received several reports from elderly people in Anaheim and Carson, but they believe these thieves may have also targeted people in San Bernadino and Riverside counties.
“In one of our cases, one of our victims was legally blind, legally blind,” exclaimed Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer in a press conference Thursday morning.
He was joined by the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department (LASD), Anaheim Police, and the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office to announce an arrest in the series of burglaries targeting people ages 79 to 88 years old.
“We believe Mr. Chavez would target primarily elderly victims who live in mobile home parks and who displayed home security signs outside of their homes,” said Lt. Pasquale Aiello with the LASD’s Carson station.
Police said 37-year-old Jacinto Chavez of Riverside is one of possibly two or more thieves who posed as employees of the alarm security company Brinks to enter homes and steal items such as jewelry, credit cards, and blank checks.
“This is like stealing from your grandparents,” Spitzer said. “That’s how despicable this is. Walking in your grandparents’ bedroom and stealing your grandmother’s jewelry and then going out and trying to fence that.”