Two men arrested for La Cañada burglary

By Mary O’KEEFE

Two men were arrested on Tuesday for assault with a deadly weapon and suspected of residential burglary.

On Tuesday about 10:45 a.m. a resident returned to her home in the 1200 block of Descanso Drive and noticed an unfamiliar blue pick-up parked in her driveway. She stopped her car in front of the truck when a young man she did not know came walking out from behind her home. He approached her car and tried to speak to her but she rolled up her window and called 911.

The suspect ran to his truck, got in and reportedly began driving toward the resident’s car. The truck scraped the car as it drove out of the driveway and turned eastbound on Descanso Drive. The victim was uninjured.

“She was able to obtain the license plate of the truck,” said Sgt. Ray Harley, Crescenta Valley Sheriff’s Station.

The victim found that her home had been burglarized. A glass door located in the rear of the home had been shattered and several rooms were ransacked. Four laptop computers were stolen as well as several other items. The wiring of two big screen televisions was partially disconnected.

Harley said the assumption is the suspects had heard the woman’s vehicle pull into the driveway before they were able to take the televisions. During the investigation deputies learned that a gardener who was working at a nearby home had witnessed a second suspect fleeing the victim’s home through rear yards.

The descriptions of both suspects were immediately broadcast to other sheriff’s units and within a few minutes the suspect who fled the area on foot, later identified as a 17-year-old boy from Altadena, was found in the 200 block of Foothill Boulevard.

With the information obtained from the license plate number investigators were led to a home in the 400 block of Marengo Avenue in Pasadena. They found the suspect matching the description of the driver, identified as Ricardo Lopez, 19, of Pasadena and the truck matching the description of the one that fled La Cañada.  Stolen property belonging to the victims was allegedly found within the truck.

The 17-year-old was arrested for residential burglary. He is being held without bail at Sylmar Juvenile Hall.

Lopez was arrested for assault
with a deadly weapon and residential burglary. He is currently being held on a $50,000 bail.