'Roving' thieves targeting homes, cars in Central Coast town, police warn

Police in Monterey are warning of two groups of "roving" thieves targeting the California Central Coast town.

In a news release sent Tuesday, the Monterey Police Department said there's been a spike in automobile and residential burglaries in the past few months.

"The MPD believes there are two categories of subjects committing these crimes; a roving group that travels throughout the Bay Area and Monterey County, and local criminals," the department said in the release.

The roving groups travel to the area from San Francisco, Oakland, Richmond and other Bay Area locations, police said.

Those groups target "areas they know have financial means," and will burglarize homes, businesses and cars, taking laptops, purses and anything of value, police said.

Since the department created a burglary and theft team in April, they've arrested 17 people, according to the release.

Of those, eight arrests were made specifically on suspicion of burglary. Eleven of the arrests were made on suspicion of drug-related offenses or an unspecified outstanding warrant.

Police ask that anyone with additional information on these thefts or others to call the Monterey Police Department at 831-646-3831.

This story was originally published May 29, 2018 at 6:03 PM with the headline "'Roving' thieves targeting homes, cars in Central Coast town, police warn."