This article has been revised to reflect the conclusion by the Los Alamitos Police Department that all five of these burglaries occurred during the afternoon of Thursday August19. Originally, this article indicated two of the burglaries happened over the weekend.

Los Alamitos was hit by a rash of daytime-door kicking home invasion burglaries last Thursday, August 19. It was not until the last crime was reported the following Saturday that the full extent of the crime spree was understood. The Los Alamitos Police Department is investigating, but they have no suspects as yet. So far, five break-ins have been reported. The descriptions and amounts of the losses were not released.

The first four crimes were reported on Thursday, followed by a fifth, which was reported to police on Saturday. The mode of operation was the same for all five burglaries.

The Los Alamitos Police Department reported “during the afternoon of August 19, 2010, a rash of three burglaries occurred to homes in the Highlands neighborhood of Los Alamitos. The Highlands neighborhood is located in the southern part of Los Alamitos east of Los Alamitos Blvd and adjacent to the Joint Forces Training Base. The crime spree occurred between the hours of 3:40 pm and 5:00 pm. In each instance, the unknown suspect kicked open the front door of the three residences to gain access and proceeded to ransack the homes.”

Later, additional burglaries were discovered at a residence in the 3700 block of Rossmoor Way and another in the 12000 block of Pine St. “In each incident the homes had rooms which were ransacked,” Los Alamitos Police Captain Bruce McAlpine told OC180NEWS. “There has been no reported loss; although that might change once the residents are able to completely take inventory of their belongings.” The residents of these homes are on an extended vacation and it was a relative who discovered the crime, McAlpine reported.

These recent crimes are the first residential burglaries reported by the Los Alamitos Police Department since July22, 2010. The Los Alamitos Weekly Crime Reports are published by OC180NEWS and may be viewed by clicking on the Orange County Crime Reports link in the left section list on the homepage.

The Los Al PD reported “in one burglary, occurring in the 11600 block of Reagan St., an 18-year-old resident was startled by the suspect as he entered her residence. She immediately ran into a bathroom where she dialed 9-1-1 after locking the bathroom door.”

Captain McAlpine told OC180NEWS the PD arrived on the scene in 3:30 minutes. The victim was not hurt by the suspect and her screams apparently scared the suspect away from the house.

“We certainly believe the suspect was just as startled to find the resident home as the resident was when the crime occurred,” McAlpine told Oc180NEWS. “Her screaming most likely persuaded the suspect to vacate the home and her ability to provide a description of a potential suspect, despite the terror she must have felt, has given our detectives a lead we will definitely follow up on.”

The two other burglaries on Thursday occurred in the 11800 block of Pine St. and 3700 block of La Colmena Way. In those crimes, the residents were not home. All three residences are within short walking distance from each other.

Although McAlpine told us they have not identified any suspect, “a 20 -30 year-old male white adult with blonde hair was seen acting suspiciously in the area prior to the crime spree and is reported to have been driving a non-descript black vehicle.”