Although a spree of robberies apparently ended in the Muirlands neighborhood of La Jolla, it is still active in other parts of the state. So at a community meeting this week at the Recreation Center, the San Diego Police Department reaffirmed its commitment to additional efforts to protect the La Jolla area.

In January, a series of home burglaries in Muirlands was linked to a sophisticated South American crime ring. Police Capt. Scott Wahl said during a community meeting Jan. 21 that there had been 56 residential burglaries in La Jolla in the previous six months, 18 of which are believed to be related to the criminal group. As a result, the Police Department’s Northern Division deployed additional resources to the area, including plainclothes officers and a detective on a task force to investigate leads.

Since the meeting on January 21, there have been no robberies in the area, according to police.

Similar crimes have been reported in other parts of San Diego County, including Del Mar, Carmel Valley, Poway, 4S Ranch, Rancho Santa Fe, Torrey Highlands, Del Mar Mesa, Black Mountain Ranch and other areas throughout the state.

Police Lt. Rick Aguilar told La Jolla Light , a publication of the UT Community Press, that the criminal network is still active in areas outside of the 92037 zip code and that “we would not be working with our counterparts in the county, other cities and federal agencies.” if they weren’t active.

The department’s additional efforts in La Jolla will remain in effect “until further notice or until I am told to stop,” Aguilar said. “The boss and the captain have said this is a priority.”

At Tuesday’s meeting, police relayed to residents what they have learned during the investigation.

Wahl said the department doesn’t know how many people are involved in the criminal ring, but has learned that “they come on a visa and they spread across the country. They have been taught certain tactics. They operate in small groups. So when we stop one, another group shows up.”

The investigations lieutenant of the northern division, Ernesto Servín, said that “two weeks ago we arrested some, but another cell arrived and they started again. Each one has been a little different, but the (method of operating) is the same.”

As previously reported, burglars track the home to determine when the owner leaves and the home is vacant. From there, they usually enter through the second floor, either by climbing patio furniture or a wall. Often the master bedroom and bathroom are targeted, and jewelry left on tables and dressers is swept away.

The perpetrators dress in high-end clothing and drive high-end cars to “blend in with the neighborhood,” Aguilar said. They often carry cross-body bags.

Robberies have the peculiarity that almost all of them take place at night.

The department also learned that some thieves put a tracker on a resident’s car to make sure the owner left their home.

Drivers may suspect a tracker has been placed in their car “if they get in their car and notice that their phone doesn’t work for some reason, and then they walk away from their car and it works again,” Severin said. “In that case, call us right away… don’t try to remove it yourself. We want to catch these guys, so let us take care of it.”

“We’re going to continue to keep our staff on the ground, adding agents just to La Jolla to work this case,” Wahl said. “But we need you to keep sharing information with us. There have been a couple of cases where community members were certainly able to stop a robbery from taking place. We need to keep that ball rolling.”

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