On Thursday, December 24, 2020, at approximately 4:00 a.m., a patrol officer observed a vehicle driving south on Brand Blvd from Glenoaks Blvd with its lights off. As the officer caught up to the vehicle, it ran a red light at Brand Blvd and Goode Ave. The officer conducted a traffic stop on the vehicle for the violations and contacted the driver, identified as 20-year-old Abrel Araugo of Colton, regarding the violations. While speaking with Araugo, the officer discovered the vehicle had just been reported stolen earlier on December 24th out of Los Angeles. Officers located a text message on a phone Araugo claimed was hers stating, “You have my phone, you stole my phone.” Araugo then admitted to finding the phone and using it since hers didn’t work.
During a search of the vehicle, officers located a methamphetamine pipe and a stolen check. Araugo was arrested and booked for vehicle theft, fraud and possession of drug paraphernalia. The stolen vehicle was towed and stored for the owner to pick-up when able to. Due to Los Angeles County’s emergency “zero-dollar” bail schedule, Araugo was released from custody within four hours of being booked on these charges.
Later that morning, at approximately 9:00 a.m., a patrol officer responded to a theft report at a residence on the 800 block of Americana Way. The victim had gone to their vehicle that was parked in the structure at the location and discovered that thousands of dollars of gifts they had inside it had been stolen overnight. The officer reviewed security video from a camera inside the structure and was able to identify the license plate of the suspect vehicle and the female suspect involved. Upon doing so, the officer also discovered this was the same stolen vehicle that had been recovered at 4:00 a.m. and the suspect was the same female arrested in the above incident. By the time the officer was able to review the video and identify Araugo, Araugo had already been released from custody. The officer went to the tow yard and located almost all of the stolen items from the victim’s vehicle inside of the stolen vehicle that Araugo had been driving.
Five hours after Araugo was released from custody, at approximately 3:00 p.m. on December 24, 2020, officers responded to a residence on the 1000 block of North Glendale Ave regarding a call from a resident who had arrived home to find that someone had broken in and was still inside. Officers arrived on scene and found Araugo inside a bedroom in the residence wearing what was later discovered to be a dress belonging to one of the resident’s and appeared to have makeup on that belonged to the resident. Araugo was arrested and booked for residential burglary and was held in custody on $50,000 bail.
Sergeant Hauptmann