As Los Angeles prepared for another dangerous wind event, law enforcement officials issued strong warnings this week that criminal behavior targeting wildfire victims would not be tolerated.
On Monday, Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman was joined by local and federal law enforcement officials to announce charges against a group of people in a residential looting in the city of Pacific Palisades.
Moreover, the Santa Monica Police Department (SMDP) also announced on Monday that from January 7 to the 13, over 40 arrests were made in the zones in violation to the legal emergency orders. Most were also violating the city and county curfew orders but others were more serious.
The Santa Monica suspects were arrested for burglary (three individuals in one incident on 18th Street, four individuals in the 200 Block of Euclid and two individuals at 10th and Carlyle). Six were in possession of burglary tools, the rest were arrested for other violations, including curfew, drug possession, driving violations, outstanding warrants, parole and probation violations. Two of the individuals were in possession of concealed handguns. Read about the specific Santa Monica arrests here, here, here, here, here, here and here.
None of the suspects arrested are from Santa Monica.
Santa Monica Police Chief Ramon Batista said in a statement, “I am grateful for the unwavering dedication and professionalism of all the officers and professional staff in the SMPD. Over the past seven days, while the fires in Palisades tested the resilience of many, each of them stood strong, ensuring that the city of Santa Monica remained safe and secure.
“I am also grateful for the collaboration with our mutual aid partners who supported us on the front lines and the National Guard for helping us secure the evacuation zones and maintain entry and exit points to the closed areas,” Batista said.
“With over 200,000 Angelinos cooperating with evacuation orders in order to make sure that they get out of harm's way and allow firefighters, first responders and law enforcement to do their business, there have been certain people that we have given a warning to because we anticipated that this was what was going to happen. And these are the criminals. These are the people who are seeking to exploit this tragedy for their own benefit. These are people who have engaged in looting, arson,” Hochman said.
Hochman also announced felony charges against several suspects arrested for looting countywide. Those individuals are facing burglary and grand theft charges, in some cases carrying decades in prison.
One suspect arrested near Malibu for attempting to impersonate a firefighter and subsequently burglarize a home. When asked by the Daily Press at the press conference held at the Hall of Justice in downtown Los Angeles, how the suspect was able to obtain a firefighters’ jacket and helmet, Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said, “We're not going to disclose those parts of the investigation this time, as the prosecution moves forward at whatever level it moves forward to, we will be releasing additional information, especially after we confirm which charges are going to be filed.”
However, FBI Assistant Director Akil Davis, added, “This has been a very, very chaotic scene for everybody right now, and we have a lot of areas right now where residents have not been able to go back … think, for example, with regards to the individuals [that were] arrested with fire uniforms, we're pleading with the public, if they have any information that they may have seen these individuals in other parts of the Palisades, we need that information because … this investigation is not closed. It's still going.”
He stressed the need for any video, from cellphone to Ring cameras, of any suspicious activity be given to authorities to assist in their ongoing efforts.
Following the much publicized incident where a civilian drone struck one of the two CL-415 "Super Scooper" firefighting planes on January 9, a total of three suspects have been arrested for two illegal drone incursions into restricted airspace.
“We are coming across probably 20 incursions a day now,” Luna said, adding, “Our numbers vary a little different than what the fire department puts out [but it’s] probably between 20 and 30. There are that many drones in the air at any given time, and that's why we continue to stress to the public, stop flying your drones over these fires. Let us do our job. Let us save lives.”
He repeated a phrase that has been used a number of times now in these daily press conferences, “If you’re in the air, we can’t be.”
Anyone with any information about any of these incidents or any other crime is asked to reach out to the Santa Monica Police Department.
scott.snowden@smdp.com
