Silver Lake Residents Watch Burglar Break In, From Laptop

Photo by ~db~ via LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr

Photo by ~db~ via LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr
A few hours after arriving in Palm Springs for a New Years trip on December 30, Silver Lake resident Matt Hartman and his wife received word from a neighbor the the back door of their second-floor duplex near Effie Street and Lucile Avenue was wide open.Using his laptop, Hartman accessed footage from outdoor surveillance cameras on his property and saw, "images of a diligent burglar who had entered his Silver Lake home only hours earlier," reports The Eastsider.

The break-in happened around noon shortly after the couple and a neighbor left their apartments. The burglar hopped a fence into the backyard and reportedly pawed through mailboxes, peeked under doormats and in crawl spaces and rattled doors and windows searching for a way in. Hartman recounts the events of the video via email on The Eastsider saying, “It was frightening to look at.”

The suspect, according to Hartman, appeared to be a medium-build, Latino or African American male in his late 30s or 40s. The burglar spent less than an hour on the property stealing jewelry (including an engagement ring), a laptop, and a bicycle. The couple turned over copies of the footage to the police.