Teen Posed as Multimillionaire Investor to Allegedly Steal From Los Angeles Home
A teenage boy is in serious legal trouble after stealing more than a few bags of chips from a convenience or taking his parents' car for a joy ride.
The teen allegedly stole $40,000 worth of jewelry during a tour of a high-end Southern California home after convincing the real estate agent that he was a 23-year-old multimillionaire. Police made an arrest in the case around 7:00 a.m. on April 1. However, the suspect's name has not been made public due to his age, according to ABC 7.
The home, which is located in the swanky city of Thousand Oaks in Greater Los Angeles, is on the market for $7.5 million. In a report released by the Ventura County sheriff's office titled "Juvenile Arrested for Burglary," the agent said that the boy, who is actually 16, "appeared young and seemed out of place" but was "left alone to walk through" because he was able to produce the necessary financial documents.
Reportedly, they "indicated he had access to millions of dollars." Superficially, the boy fit the picture of an heir, mogul, royal, or celebrity, too: he was wearing nice clothes, driving an expensive car, and used language that "indicated he was familiar with buying and selling high-end homes and comfortable with discussing money and other investments."
Two days later, the homeowner reported a Chanel J12 watch and a pair of two-inch diamond hoop earrings missing, prompting the Thousand Oaks Police Department and East County Investigations Bureau to launch an investigation.
Detectives assigned to the case soon realized that the boy had been touring other residences in the area under the same pretenses since October. During a search of the suspect's Camarillo home, where he lived with his mother, they recovered "several pieces of high-dollar jewelry" and two lists of his targets, which included homes in Oxnard, Malibu, Santa Rosa, Camarillo, and, of course, Thousand Oaks as well as yachts in Morro Bay, San Diego, Newport Beach, Channel Islands, and Marina Del Rey.
"The mom was surprised, to say the least," Detective Rico Rinaldi told The Thousand Oaks Acorn, a community newspaper.
The boy was arrested on a felony charge of residential burglary. He is currently awaiting trial at the Juvenile Justice Center in Oxnard, though a court date has yet to be set.
While Rinaldi does not currently seem to believe that the boy was responsible for any thefts other than the one at the Thousand Oaks home, he said that it will "take time" to complete the investigation. In particular, he hopes to figure out how the boy managed to fence the allegedly stolen valuables.
