Long Beach PD investigating rash of break-ins in Belmont Shore neighborhood

LONG BEACH, Calif. - Residents in Long Beach’s Belmont Shore neighborhood are concerned and police are warning residents to remain vigilant after a series have burglaries have struck the area for the past two weeks. 

Authorities say the perpetrators are bold and don’t care that people are inside the homes. 

Long Beach resident Adrienne Newell is a victim of a hot prowl. 

A "hot prowl" is described as a crime in which burglars break into homes while people are inside, usually sleeping. 

"I came downstairs and realized that the back kitchen door was open and the ally door was open," Newell recalls. 

Sometime between 1 a.m. and 6 a.m., the thieves entered her home while she was upstairs in bed sleeping. 

"They came in and took all of my electronics for work, and then I have a charging station over there, so anything that was connected to that was also stolen, as well as my checkbook," she said. 

Her house is not the only one that has been targeted by burglars in Long Beach. 

The Long Beach Police Department confirmed they have received multiple reports of residential burglaries in recent weeks. 

Officials say at least 15 homes have been broken into in the southeast portion of Long Beach since Oct. 31st. Police say in most cases, the burglars are getting into homes through unlocked windows and doors, quickly taking whatever they can get. 

Some of the items being stolen include wallets, keys and purses, police said. 

"One of the things also that we're seeing in many of these residential burglaries is that car keys are being taken and that the car belonging to the victim is also being taken with the keys that were inside the home at the time that the residents were sleeping," said Long Beach PD Lt. Rico Fernandez. 

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In one case, the thieves walked into the bedroom of an unsuspecting homeowner, grabbed the keys from the nightstand and stole the car.

"My fiancé and I were robbed while we were home and awake," a Long Beach resident, who did not want to be identified, recalls. 

Through social media, she discovered many of her neighbors were also hit. 

Unfortunately, at the time of the break-in, Newell did not have a security camera that would have captured those thieves in action. But after this horrible experience, she now has a top-of-the-line security system. 

"I did get security cameras because I wanted to feel peace of mind just knowing that all the areas were protected," she said. 

Police are currently reviewing all security footage from other houses, but so far, they have no suspects. 

"We are following up on some of the leads that we have. We are still processing evidence. We are collecting as much evidence as we can. But as of now, we do not have any suspect information that we're ready to provide to the public," Lt. Fernandez said. 

Lt. Fernandez is urging the residents to make sure that their windows and doors are locked and to report anything suspicious.

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