LOS ANGELES: A looter disguised himself as a firefighter to raid a house round fire-wrecked Malibu, police mentioned on Sunday (Jan 12).
The alleged raider was certainly one of greater than two dozen individuals arrested as big blazes ripped by way of the Los Angeles space, with evacuees on edge over the protection of properties they have been pressured to flee.
Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna mentioned his deputies stopped the person within the Palisades Fireplace evacuation zone, which extends into Malibu.
“I noticed a gentleman that seemed like a firefighter, and I requested him if he was okay as a result of he was sitting down,” Luna advised a press convention.
“I did not realise we had him in handcuffs. We have been turning him over to (the Los Angeles Police Division) as a result of he was dressed like a fireman and he was not.
“He simply received caught (burgling) a house.”
Luna’s reverse quantity on the Los Angeles Police Division, Jim McDonnell, mentioned investigating officers decided he was certainly one of three individuals who had been driving across the ruined neighbourhood.
An evening-time curfew is in place throughout the catastrophe zones round Pacific Palisades and Altadena, the place two fires have laid waste to complete communities.
Metropolis and county officers have repeatedly warned that anybody within the evacuation areas between 6pm and 6am goes to be collared.
For the person allegedly preying on victims by pretending to be a primary responder, the penalty might be even stiffer, mentioned McDonnell.
Officers arrested him moreover for impersonating a firefighter, he mentioned, a criminal offense that might lead to a 12 months in jail.
“We’ve individuals who will go to all ends … to use the victims of this tragedy,” McDonnell mentioned.
Greater than 100,000 individuals stay evacuated from a number of catastrophe zones that cowl 40,000 acres round Los Angeles.
The fires have killed at the least 16 individuals, with many extra unaccounted for.
They’ve additionally destroyed greater than 12,000 buildings, together with tons of of properties.
