Police are investigating after a homeowner in the San Gabriel Valley said thieves may have followed members of his family and deflated their vehicle tires to keep them away while their home was burglarized.
It happened on Feb. 19 at a home on the 2500 block of Ridgeway Road in San Marino.
According to a release from the San Marino Police Department, a man reported that his home was burglarized while he and his son were at work and while their housekeeper was away on lunch.
Police learned that when the man and his son left their respective jobs to return home for the evening, they discovered that the air had been let out of their vehicles’ tires.
When the residents arrived back at their home, the housekeeper informed them that her tires had also been deflated, which was pointed out by another driver when she was driving from lunch.
That same driver who informed her that the tires were low, followed the housekeeper for some time, she told police.
“She did not stop and instead drove directly to the residence. Her tires had been deflated but apparently were drivable,” San Marino police wrote in their weekly police activity report.
When the housekeeper arrived back at the home prior to the homeowners arriving, she found a window had been smashed to open the rear balcony door and the master bedroom had been ransacked.
The home’s electrical box had also been tampered with, police said, and an electrical room on the second floor had been trashed with wires pulled and the internet modem moved.
Police did not disclose what was taken from the home, and the total loss to the victim remains unclear.
A forensics technician from the Pasadena Police Department is assisting with the investigation, and detectives have combed the neighborhood and obtained surveillance footage.
The investigation remains ongoing and anyone with information is urged to contact the San Marino Police Department at 626-300-0720.
