Officers Nab Alleged Squatters With Kids in San Marino

What started off as a local caretaker’s call to police about a tampered-with garage door ended with the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services taking custody of four children from the suspects who were arrested.
A 24-year-old woman, 26-year-old woman and 26-year-old man, all from Long Beach, face charges of residential burglary, vehicle burglary, child endangerment and possession of drug paraphernalia after being arrested as suspected squatters at a home in the 2100 block of Oak Knoll Avenue last week.
Officers were called at 1 p.m. on Monday, May 22, after the caretaker of the home had discovered the garage door had been tampered with and broken into. The caretaker’s vehicle, which was parked inside the garage, had had its driver’s side window smashed and its license plates removed.
While police investigated the garage, the officers noted that a window on the home had been opened and the caretaker said the air conditioning was running when it shouldn’t have been. The front door could not be opened, even with the caretaker’s key, so officers used the window to get into the home, where they discovered the three suspects, in addition to four children between ages 2 and 6.
The children, according to SMPD, were dirty and unfed and the suspects were in possession of drug paraphernalia and stolen jewelry and mail. The children were cleaned and fed and brought to SMPD until DCFS social workers could retrieve them.
In addition to the responding officers, the department’s detectives, a commander, a dispatcher, Police Chief John Incontro and his assistant all participated in some facet of this response and investigation.
The 26-year-old woman was booked into Los Angeles County Jail because of an unrelated medical issue and the other two suspects were booked into Alhambra Jail.