With a noticeable increase in both crime and law enforcement activity in Rossmoor, in this exclusive report, OC180NEWS presents a state of the community. Crime is up, law enforcement activity is up, and arrests are up.
“People are more aware of it [crime] and they’re reporting more. There is an increase, but I don’t think the increase is anything near what the perception is,” Orange County Sheriff Lieutenant Robert Wren told OC180NEWS yesterday. “I just think people are more aware of it because of people like you [reporting on OC180NEWS]. People are just more aware – people care about their community, and because of that there’s just more information.”
In fact, according to Wren, the number of residential burglaries in Rossmoor increased from 30 in all of 2010, to 33 last year, an increase of 10%. But, the number of reported Rossmoor thefts nearly doubled in the same year over year comparison.
“The vast majority is stuff from vehicles,” said Wren. “It [thefts] went up from 12 to 22 between 2010 and 2011.”
A crime is considered a theft if the car is unlocked. If it is locked and the bad guy forces entry to grab the goods, it is considered burglary.
With regard to more patrols and arrest, OC180NEWS has reported on some prominent recent cases. One such case was last month’s robbery/home invasion of a 90-year-old Rossmoor woman.
Less than 24 hours after this attack, OCSD arrested Tyler James Compton for the crime. Much fanfare was given to the accuracy of the elderly victim’s description of the suspect, which led to the quick arrest.
At the time, the suspects were described as Male Hispanics, in their twenties, 5’4” to 5’6”. Arrested suspect Compton was born on 08/20/1988. His race is listed as White, his hair color is brown, he is 5′ 09″ tall, and weighs 160lbs.
“His last hearing was January 18, 2012,” OCDA Spokesperson Farrah Emami told OC180NEWS. “It got continued to a pretrial hearing which is set for February 9.”
There has not yet been any hearing in open court of the evidence against Compton and he remains in custody. The second suspect has not been arrested.
Just last week, quick work by OCSD led to the arrest of two suspects in a daytime Rossmoor attempted burglary. Arrested on January 23, 2012 were David Sutera, 34, Huntington Beach and Brittany Nicole Early, 25, Newport Beach. Both suspects are scheduled for court appearances Monday, January 30, 2012, and both remain in custody.
While the above cases are working their way through the court process, another Rossmoor criminal is already in state prison. Melissa Hanaki, 27, who was also a Rossmoor resident, was sentenced to 3 years in state prison for stealing a 2004 Lexus 330 from Rossmoor on October 13, 2011.
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“We’re making more arrests and we’re putting more people in the area,” said OCSD’s Lt. Wren. “Coverage is better. The other day we had 4 people working through the night doing under cover stuff – trying to find people. They had been out there for about six hours.”
A related potential issue for OCSD coverage of Rossmoor relates to the annexation of Sunset Beach into the City of Huntington Beach. Since prior to the annexation, Sunset beach was patrolled by OCSD, there was concern moving Sunset Beach into Huntington Beach might adversely impact OCSD’s ability to cover Rossmoor.
“I pay really close attention. I make sure that we don’t have any gaps,” Lt. Wren told OC180NEWS. “In the past, there would be a gap if a deputy in Rossmoor took somebody to jail, then the person in
Sunset Beach would be covering, but he would be covering from Sunset Beach. I make sure that if at any time a deputy in Rossmoor leaves, another deputy slides over, so we always have at least one deputy there. We never have a time where there’s a gap.”
On January 26, 2012, OCSD responded to another daytime burglary call in Rossmoor. According to Lt. Wren, valuable artwork was taken from a home in the 3200 block of Brimhall. The residents, who are not the owner of the property, were not home at the time of the crime. The method of entrance was unknown yesterday. Wren indicated the investigation is continuing and according to the victim, the value of the art could exceed six figures. No other property was taken.
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About Dolores Barr, Publisher
Dolores Barr has lived in Rossmoor since 1992 and has created this site to provide local news for the people of Los Alamitos, Seal Beach, Rossmoor, Leisure World, Sunset Beach, and Surfside, California. My husband and I have had two students graduate from the Los Alamitos Unified School District and currently our Grandson, Ricky Apodaca, grade 3 at Weaver Elementary, is actively involved in youth baseball through LAYB and youth football through FNL.
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