A person in Los Angeles County found a camouflaged camera in their flower bed while they were gardening. — Unsplash
California police are warning residents to be wary of home burglaries being committed by theft rings after a person in Los Angeles County found a camouflaged camera in their flower bed while they were gardening.
In a Facebook post, the Lost Hills Sheriff's Station in Calabasas – about 30 miles outside of Los Angeles – said a camera and battery pack likely belonged to a South American theft group that was clandestinely surveilling the homeowner so it could learn their habits prior to a break-in.
Lost Hills officials said clandestine cameras are commonly used by South American theft groups, which are “highly organised criminal enterprises” typically made up of Chilean or Colombian nationals. Police say group members, often in the US on limited tourist visas, travel between states to commit burglaries and thefts.
Vanity Fair detailed the rings and their methods in a piece from 2022, and a report from KGO-TV that same year said that police in Hillsborough were investigating a “rash” of burglaries believed to have been carried out by tourist theft groups.
The Lost Hills Sheriff's Station encourages homeowners to conduct regular inspections of their property by searching around trees and bushes. It also says residents can make their property a harder target by beefing up home security with tools such as cameras and motion-activated lights.
The post included a photo of the tools that were discovered by the Southern California homeowner. It shows a camera in a bag designed to look like a plant, along with a battery back that was wrapped in black electrical tape. Police did not say whether any arrests were made in the case, meaning it’s possible that the cameras were not placed at the home by a crime tourist.
Law enforcement officials said residents who discover such items on their property should contact local authorities to file a report. – SFGate, San Francisco/Tribune News Service
