Culver City police are working to return stolen packages and presents in time for Christmas after a traffic stop led to the arrest of a suspected thief.
At around 3:30 a.m., a stop for a hazardous traffic violation near Slauson Avenue and Buckingham Parkway led officers to “a career criminal who picked the wrong community to prey on this time,” the Culver City Police Department said.
A search of the vehicle uncovered multiple stolen mail packages addressed to residents in Culver City.
The driver was arrested for burglary and booked with a probation hold.
Jennifer Atenza, the department’s public information officer, told Fox 11 Los Angeles, “Our officers are always working to be vigilant to protect our community from this type of theft.
We have stolen packages belonging to several different people, stolen identification and drug paraphernalia that was recovered.”
Police said many of the recovered packages are holiday gifts addressed to Culver City residents.
“Every holiday season, there’s an uptick in this kind of theft,” Atenza said. “It’s really great to remind everybody that during this holiday season, we have all kinds of packages and gifts arriving at our front doorsteps, to be mindful and vigilant.”
The department is working to return all stolen items in time for the holidays.
“We look forward to being able to reunite them with their items. We understand they very likely may be holiday gifts and want to make sure they get back to them on time,” Atenza said.
The police department also reminded residents to secure packages by bringing them inside as quickly as possible and to report any suspicious activity immediately.