Police Investigated Burglary, Stalking, and Assault in June

Stassi burglary suspect

By Laurel Busby

News & Information Editor

Some Canyon residents had challenging encounters with individuals who don’t live in the Canyon this month.

On June 16, “an unhoused individual” was suspected of opening an unlocked door of a home on Stassi Lane and stealing some items, according to Sharon Kilbride, the Canyon representative to the Pacific Palisades Community Council. Later police told her that he had been found on Adelaide with the stolen items and arrested.

“Please report any suspicious individuals in your neighborhood to your security company and crimes to LAPD,” said Kilbride, who noted that a resident had told her that the same man had been hanging out on the wooden stairs for hours, waving his arms, and yelling. “We have noticed an uptick of new unstable folks coming into the area and not wanting any kind of help from outreach resources.”

A 15-year-old girl and her family reported to Kilbride and other neighbors that she had been repeatedly followed by a man who made sexual comments to her. When the police came to investigate, they didn’t arrest him, but they asked her to go through the process of obtaining a restraining order, Kilbride said. Later, a police officer discovered with Kilbride’s help that there was already a warrant issued for this man on another matter, so on June 16, after he was again seen near the girl’s home, he was arrested.

He was later released, and this morning he returned to the neighborhood, where he again followed the girl from the park to her home. The police were called, and this time he was arrested for stalking, which is a felony charge, Kilbride said.

The previous week, on June 9, a different man who was partially unclothed is accused of entering a home on Entrada through an unlocked gate and refusing to leave, Kilbride said.

“He threatened the homeowner and neighbor with a bottle he had in his possession,” said Kilbride, who had to use pepper spray to subdue him.

Private security, paramedics, and the police later came to help, and he was eventually arrested, Kilbride said. One of the homelessness workers employed by the taskforce reported that she saw him earlier in the afternoon hit the manager of Vons in the face and also steal bottles of liquor from the store.

A transient woman also is accused of entering a home through an unlocked door on Adelaide Dr. on June 3 while a couple was watching television. Police were told that she placed keys on the couple’s table and said that the keys belonged to them, according to a report from Senior Lead Officer Brian Espin. One of the homeowners reported yelling at the woman to leave, which she did. She was later arrested.

“Its been insane for me,” said Kilbride, who regularly works with the Pacific Palisades Taskforce on Homelessness. “We all have to look out for one another. There seems to be a huge rash of this.”

Man arrested for stalking of local girl

Man arrested for trespassing, assault, and burglary