String of car break-ins reported at SLO County parks. Here’s what burglars are doing
After a string of car break-ins at popular spots on the North Coast, local law enforcement officers are issuing some advice to keep people from being victimized.
If you must leave behind valuables in your vehicle, stash them before you arrive at your destination.
In the recent burglaries, the perpetrators evidently staked out their victims and watched while they concealed purses or other valuables, according to Eric Hjelstrom, coastal sector superintendent for California State Parks’ San Luis Obispo Coast District.
Then, after the victims left the parking area to hike, surf or walk the shoreline, Hjelstrom said, burglars broke into their vehicles, stole some of the items inside and went to places where they could quickly use any credit cards they’d taken.
“It’s a common MO (modus operandi),” Hjelstrom said, adding that the crimes seem to happen more often on Sundays. With the mostly pleasant weather and increased visitation, state and county parks have been seeing a lot more day use during the pandemic, and Sundays are exceptionally busy.
Rangers have been working closely with sheriff’s deputies and city police, he said. “There’s only so much you can do to stop this kind of thing … we adjust our patrol patterns,” but the burglars soon figure them out and adjust accordingly.
In some cases, the burglars broke glass to get into the vehicles.
On March 28, Cambria business owner Christina Tobin parked at Harmony Headlands State Park and headed off for a hike with her companion.
On their return at about 5:30 p.m., they discovered that Tobin’s vehicle had been broken into. “The entire lock had been professionally removed,” she said, causing about $1,000 in damage. She surmises that the burglar used that sophisticated method so the break-in wouldn’t set off the alarm.
“I was carrying my valuables with me,” Tobin said, but the friend who was with her didn’t. The burglar “took five credit or debit cards, then by 6 p.m., went to the Target in San Luis Obispo to buy three separate gift cards,” with a total value of about $1,500.
“They use the gift cards to buy a bunch of stuff from the store,” Hejlstrom said, “things that they can then return or resell.”
Using video footage of the incident, Tobin said, responding state park Ranger Marston Taylor was able to tentatively identify the burglar, probably in his 20s, as being the same man who’d stolen credit cards from a car in Los Osos and bought $600 in gift cards at the Target store on March 3, then used the cards at a Los Osos supermarket and online.
Because Tobin and Taylor took action so quickly, she said, Target’s asset manager was able to freeze the gift cards bought by the burglar.
Tobin said she’s been told there have been six or seven car robberies this year targeting hikers’ vehicles at Montana de Oro, Harmony Headlands, Estero Bluffs and Los Osos Oaks state parks.
While the vehicle-burglary uptick has been relatively small — maybe one a month in the past six months or so, according to Hjelstrom — that’s enough to grab increased attention and oversight from law enforcers.
This story was originally published April 8, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
