Stolen Property

Looking for some hot goods? PropertyRoom.com, a Web site launched this week in San Clemente, auctions goods that were seized or recovered by law enforcement agencies in Southern California. The parent company, Property Bureau, has agreements with a dozen Southern California police departments, including Fullerton and Garden Grove. By law, departments are required to sell the goods that accumulate in their warehouses. The money usually goes to the city or county. Enter Property Bureau.

Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley has declined to file criminal charges against a union leader accused by his former bosses of stealing a laptop computer, authorities said Wednesday. Police arrested Josif Kahraman, former executive director of the Engineers and Architects Assn., and his wife, Ani Kahraman, last week on suspicion of felony grand theft. He was arrested the same day he was placed on leave from his job. The union represents about 5,000 Los Angeles city employees.

Those not in the diamond trade might find it hard to understand why Emile Chayto, a Geneva dealer with more than 40 years of experience, gave $14 million worth of gems to a stranger who claimed to be the wife of the deceased president of the Congo -- before she had paid him one penny. Unfortunately for Chayto, she was not the widow of Mobutu Sese Seko. And her wire transfer never arrived.

The president of Cal State Stanislaus said Wednesday that he believes that documents relating to a fundraising appearance by former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin were stolen and given to students to stoke controversy over the upcoming event. University President Hamid Shirvani also said he has asked Palin to release information about her speaking fee. She has yet to respond, he said. The university is investigating how parts of Palin's draft contract got into the hands of students who then turned them over to state Sen. Leland Yee (D-San Francisco)

The Police Department will auction about 135 bicycles, 40 car stereos, tools, jewelry and other items today to clear its property room of unclaimed property. Bidding will start at 9 a.m. in the parking lot at City Hall, Alton Parkway and Harvard Avenue. About 350 items will be available for inspection starting at 8:30 a.m. Checks will be accepted from buyers with California driver's licenses or identification cards.

Police arrested three men Thursday morning as they walked along a street carrying guns and a coin collection that had been stolen from a nearby house. The three suspects allegedly broke into the home of a couple vacationing in Puerto Rico, police said. Neighbors called officers after they heard glass breaking at the house in the 4600 block of Cathy Avenue and then saw three people running away about 4:15 a.m.

Eight people have been arrested at a South Los Angeles warehouse where, authorities said, more than $500,000 in stolen merchandise was found. FBI agents and Los Angeles County sheriff's investigators took two women and six men into custody Thursday for investigation of felony charges of receiving stolen property. The merchandise came from at least five cargo containers reportedly stolen from cargo terminals or private company loading docks throughout the county, sheriff's spokesman Richard Dinsmoor said.

Torrance police this week will allow residents to peruse the loot from two suspected burglars in an attempt to identify the owners of the property. The property, which is worth $100,000 to $150,000, includes televisions, stereos, cameras, jewelry, Oriental rugs, tools, and other items taken from an unknown number of residences and businesses primarily in the Torrance area over the last 18 months. The items were recovered Aug.

Unclaimed stolen property will be auctioned by police at 10 a.m. on June 10 at City Hall. Bicycles, radios and stereo speakers are among the items up for bids. Only cash will be accepted as payment. More information can be obtained by calling the Police Department at (714) 536-5944 between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. on weekdays.

Members of a newly created police unit announced Wednesday that they had seized about $100,000 worth of stolen property from a house believed to be part of a fencing network with links to Mexico. On Tuesday, the 4-month-old street crime apprehension team arrested and booked Jaime Mejia Tenovio, 60, and Enrique Juarez, 34, on charges of receiving stolen property and possession of merchandise that has had the serial numbers removed.

A convicted drug dealer who allegedly helped a "bling ring" sell off luxury items stolen from the homes of young celebrities, including Lindsay Lohan and Paris Hilton, pleaded no contest Friday to several felonies, authorities said. Jonathan Ajar, known as "Johnny Dangerous," was the fence for the items stolen in at least 10 burglaries that also targeted the residences of Rachel Bilson, Orlando Bloom, Brian Austin Green, Megan Fox, Audrina Patridge and Ashley Tisdale, authorities said.

Troubled actor Charlie Sheen had left his Mercedes-Benz in his open garage with the keys in it when it was stolen and later found crashed in a ravine off Mulholland Drive, police said Friday. The 2009 Mercedes four-door sedan was found badly damaged about 350 feet down from Mulholland Drive about two miles from Sheen's home in a gated community in Sherman Oaks. After an extensive search on foot and by helicopter, rescue crews did not find a driver or passengers in the vicinity of the stolen car. Los Angeles fire and police officials learned the car had been in an accident just after 4 a.m. when the Mercedes' electronic security system automatically notified them.

Was the J. Paul Getty Museum acting in good faith when it purchased one of the finest ancient bronze statues in existence? That will be the central question before an Italian judge after Friday's closing arguments in a long-running legal battle in Pesaro, Italy. At stake is a much-coveted work believed by some to have been created by Alexander the Great's personal sculptor and plundered by Roman soldiers around the time of Christ before being lost at sea. A regional public prosecutor alleges that the Italian fishermen who discovered the Greek statue in 1964 failed to declare it to Italian customs officials and sold it to middlemen, who smuggled it out of the country.

Anthony Martinez Garduno, a 51-year-old church leader who was shot three months ago during a burglary attempt at his church in Home Gardens, was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of selling drugs from his church, the Riverside County Sheriff's Department said. Authorities say that on Dec. 21, deputies from the Jurupa Valley Station responded to a call of an alleged sexual assault at Our Lady of Tepeyac church in the 13400 block of Magnolia Avenue in Home Gardens, an unincorporated area of Riverside County.

The SEA Lab is a small aquarium in Redondo Beach that about 20,000 schoolchildren visit each year to look at the fish. Sometimes they even get the chance to touch them. But over the weekend, someone went a lot further than that by stealing two 30-pound California halibut and more than 20 spiny lobsters from the outdoor tanks. A pool of blood was found next to the 5,000-gallon halibut tank, presumably from injuries the fish suffered. Brent Scheiwe, the SEA Lab's program director, said there was no evidence of a break-in.

Polish police found the infamous "Arbeit Macht Frei" sign that was stolen from the gate of the former Nazi death camp of Auschwitz after an intensive three-day hunt and arrested five suspects, police said early today. The sign was found cut into three pieces. Police spokeswoman Katarzyna Padlo told The Associated Press that the sign was found Sunday night in northern Poland, the other end of the country from the southern Polish town where the Auschwitz memorial museum is located and where it disappeared before dawn Friday.

Sheriff's officials have recovered stolen property and seized a large amount of cash and drugs from a San Clemente home. The discovery stems from the investigation into several vehicle and residential burglaries that resulted in the arrest last month of James Elwyn Fraser, 36, of San Clemente.

Police recovered Paris Hilton's designer perfume, a pistol belonging to actor Brian Austin Green and a handwritten inventory listing diamonds and other jewelry at the homes of suspects accused of burglarizing the homes of young Hollywood celebrities, according to a search warrant affidavit obtained by The Times. The affidavit by Los Angeles Police Department detectives names five alleged members of the burglary crew -- Jonathan Ajar, Courtney Ames, Roy Lopez Jr., Alexis Neiers and Diana Tamayo -- who were charged last week with residential burglary and other felonies in connection with at least 10 burglaries in the Hollywood Hills from late 2008 to last month.

Even by the confessional standards of the "Dr. Phil" television show, it was a whopper of an admission. The nicely dressed couple said they had roamed several states as shoplifters, stealing mostly toys, selling them on the Internet and making as much as $1 million over seven years. "I'm no lawyer or a cop," said talk-show host Phil McGraw, his Texas drawl mixed with incredulity, "but isn't that a federal crime?" The wife paused a second and then said, "Yeah, it is." Last week, a federal grand jury in San Diego agreed, handing down an indictment against Matthew Allen Eaton, 34, and his wife, Laura, 26. And, just as Dr. Phil predicted, the transcript and video of last November's show are central to the prosecution's case.