Back in May, someone cut the screen on an elderly woman’s home, with her in the home, and proceeded to steal items and make a clean getaway, the Rossmoor Community Services District Board were told.
Dr. Maureen Waters appeared before the Rossmoor Community Services District at their most recent meeting in May to ask the Orange County Sheriff’s Office to explain why that specific incident was not listed as a “home invasion” in their quarterly crime report.
“This past weekend. I was out of town but an elderly lady around the corner from us got burglarized and she was home. And I heard I don’t know if it’s true that it was not classified as a home invasion robbery. I don’t know if he can speak to that if it was and if it wasn’t it classified as a home invasion robbery. I’d like to know why,” Dr. Waters said.
“This lady her front door was locked down her garage driveway gate was not locked. They got into her bedroom. They slice[d] the screen you know she had a window open, she was home. That is concerning to the people of Rossmoor,” said Waters.
Waters’ appeal to the board ironically came on the same night Capt. Gary Knutson presented the OC Sheriff’s Office quarterly crime report, so she asked for an explanation.
Director Mark Nitikman, the board VP but acting president for the May meeting, asked Knutson to explain why that particular crime was not listed as a “home invasion.”
“You know, primarily, just speak to their question about the classification of it, and why it was not considered a ‘home invasion,’” began Knutson. “So, home invasion would be a type of crime where they use you know, force or fear to get past the homeowner to kick in the front door … it’s kind of like a robbery,” he said.
“Like if I was to come up to you and grab your person, you know, rip it [personal property] off your body. That’s what a home invasion is. In this case, it was a burglary. She just happened to be home. Fortunately, she wasn’t injured,” he said.
“I know it’s a scary thing. You know, similar situations happened to my family members. It’s very disconcerting,” said Knutson.
“I believe we have some good investigative leads on it and we’re working to track these individuals down,” Knutson continued.
The OC Sheriff’s official report said the agency was cooperating with the Los Alamitos Police Department, seeking to use data from recently installed license plate readers to check license plates of cars leaving the community on the night of the incident.
Knutson said authorities are already tracking potential persons of interest and suggested there could be arrests in the case soon.
He further said burglaries involve just the entering a structure with the intention to commit a theft or some type of felony. But once obviously, whether someone’s home or not, once there’s engagement, there is a potential home invasion.
This week, Sgt. Scott Steiner, Public Information Officer for the OC Sheriff’s Office said the crime in Rossmoor has become part of a major ongoing investigation and as yet, no arrests have been made. He said the case is “actively” being pursued and investigators think the Rossmoor suspects may be part of a wider crime spree “throughout the surrounding area.”
Knutson said the FBI has changed its Crime Reporting System, which is now called the Uniform Crime Report, and there is now a different set of criteria and many more sub-categories.
Overall, Knutson said Rossmoor showed a slight uptick in crime, most of that in Grand Theft, which he said mostly entailed catalytic converters theft.
Theft of catalytic converters is a crime “pretty much plaguing all of southern California,” he said.
The district was down one in vehicle thefts, petty thefts were also down, while total incidents were up by eleven since the last report.
Most calls for OC Sheriff’s service come in October, November and December, the data show, said Knutson. Overall, the district had 2,564 calls for service in 2021 compared to 2,411 in 2020.
He presented details from the Crime Report, including a heat map of major incidents over the past year.
In other news, the Rossmoor Directors:
• Honored longtime Rossmoor resident Georglyn Seligman, a.k.a. the “Butterfly Lady” for her countless years of service to the community. The community recently placed a plaque on a tree in her honor and publicly honored her at the May Council meeting. Seligman was one of the early Rossmoor residents who stepped in to help RHA organize the first community festival, according to GM Joe Mendoza.
• Decided to postpone discussions on the district’s proposed $1.9 million operating budget for 2022-23 when directors could not agree on the proper amount for employee payraises, but did agree on raises for the city attorney and the RCSD’s full time arborist, which they agreed was significantly below average for the area. No increases will go into effect until the entire budget is approved.
