Police Respond to Latest in String of Burglaries by Suspects Posing as Water Department Employees

Sierra Madre Police said late Monday that a suspected burglar appears to have posed as a water department employee in order to gain entrance to a home in the 300 block of Mariposa Avenue. The incident occurred on Friday, March 25, at around 10:30 a.m., according to an official statement from the SMPD.

According to police, the suspect gained entry to the home of an elderly Sierra Madre resident after claiming he was an employee of the water department and "needed to check her plumbing for the quality of water being supplied to her home." It was at that point that police say the man distracted the woman and "may have taken property from the resident's home," though no loss of property has yet been reported.

Police also said that the suspect, whom the woman described as a clean-shaven male of Hispanic descent between 30 and 35-years-old, attempted to get the senior citizen to pay him for the work he claimed to have done within her home.

The report is similar to another incident that occurred in the same neighborhood in July 2010. That incident resulted in "substantial loss of cash and property," according to police.

More recently, on Dec. 17, 2010, the Arcadia Police Department they were seeking in connection with a similar "distraction burglary" of an Arcadia resident.

Sgt. Ruben Enriquez of the told Patch Monday evening that though the incident did not happen on his watch, he was aware that similar crimes were being committed both in Arcadia and in Pasadena's Hastings Ranch neighborhood near Sierra Madre.

"They're probably connected," Enriquez said referring to the multiple incidents. "I don't know if it's the same person or not." Nevertheless, Enriquez said he "would venture to say that these are probably related."

Arcadia Police at the time reported that their suspect was also impersonating a water department official and wore an identification badge that said "State of California" and a name tag that read "John."

Similar to Friday's Sierra Madre case, the APD's suspect told the victim that he was there to check water pressure in order to gain entry into the residence. Shortly thereafter, the suspect told the resident he had to retrieve paperwork from his truck and would return. It was after he didn't come back that the resident realized the bedroom had been ransacked and jewelry had been taken.

At the time, Arcadia Police said the victim described the man as a male of unknown race, 30-39 years old, 5-foot 9-inches tall, 150 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes.

Another “distraction burglary” happened on the morning of Feb. 23 in Arcadia. In that case, a male posing as an AT&T employee indicated that he needed to check out the phone lines inside an elderly victim’s house.  While the victim was showing the man around during the inspection, a second male suspect snuck in to the house, ransacked rooms and stole cash from a bedroom.  This theft was captured on surveillance video, but no arrest has been made.

Sierra Madre Police and Arcadia Police are asking anyone who may have information on any of these burglaries to contact their departments at (626) 355-1414 and (626) 574-5160, respectively.