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Turns out we may have been pursuing an urban myth.

Reporter Serene Branson, of KCBS/KCAL, told me that she was assigned to look into the case of the Pasadena "Panty Bandit" after a producer at the station read a blog entry here earlier today.

So Serene calls the Pasadena cops and they tell her the story is a rumor. A detective there said he polled all the detectives in the department and none are looking into reports of a "Panty Bandit" raiding dressers and closets in upper-class neighborhoods.

"An urban myth," she said. "They said a similar story circulated around town about a month ago."

Maybe it's a good thing we only considered the story a brief. Here's the "Gridiron Girls" blog, which has a page devoted to Serene and an interview. 

I don't know the full details of this story, but it's among several proposed to run in the Star-News Thursday morning. Here's what we will report:

A local burglar has been rummaging through some upper class Pasadena homes, but he is not after jewels or gold. This thief has been stealing women's underwear and fleeing the scene, police and residents say.

In Baldwin Park at least.

The gunfire continued Wednesday night when a car-to-car shooting was reported near the intersection of Nubia and Bleeker streets.

*Baldwin Park police officers sometimes forget to mention these crimes when we call, but that's why we have a scanner.

Oh, and the City Council? Well, Anthony Bejarano told me at a recent lunch meeting that the shootings, killings and other violent crimes occurring in Baldwin Park are a function of the socio-economic status of its residents...

In other words, poor people are more likely to commit crimes.

That of course doesnt' explain Phil Spector, OJ Simpson or the Kennedy and Skakel families ...

A few weeks ago, I had a surprise late-night encounter with three coyotes roaming the streets of Los Feliz.

It seemed like feral dogs were everywhere that week. Photographer Watchara Phomicinda snapped a picture of a skinny one rooting about an empty field in Irwindale. I can't remember where else they turned up, but they were around.

Last year at this time it was black bears. Bears in Monrovia; bears in Duarte; bears in Bradbury; bears in Azusa.

Old-timers probably know this already, but I was fascinated to find out that predators are nothing new in the San Gabriel Valley or Whittier for that matter.

Grizzlies, wolves, cougars and coyotes roamed pretty freely in these parts right up until the turn of the 20th century.
They're pretty much gone. If only we could say the same about their human counterparts.

***
Whoops.
In my haste to write a brilliant column each week, I've been making grammatical errors. To all you English teachers out there, my deepest apologies.

I had this pointed out to me via a marked-up column sent in the mail by Ms. Beryl Collins of Arcadia.

The mark-up, done nicely in red ink, actually contains just three sentences.
It begins with, "What school did you attend?"

To answer that I guess I have to tell you a little about myself. For the most part I am a product of the California public school system.

After my parents moved to California, I attended Laura M. Hansen Elementary in Saratoga and Joaquin Miller Junior High in San Jose.

The Jesuits took over from there, and although there were some summer school classes at Lynbrook High, I graduated from Bellarmine College Preparatory in San Jose.

Since then, I've attended UCSD, San Jose State, Pasadena City College and Mt. San Antonio College.

That seems like a lot of education. Even after all that, I still don't know how to construct a proper sentence.

The sentence below was one example pointed out by Ms. Collins. It appeared in a column that ran in this newspaper on June 3:

"I'm sure there's countless similar stories."

She suggests I should have constructed the sentence as: "I'm sure there are countless similar stories."

All I can say is that I'm really glad she hasn't been reading my text messages.

U no wot i mean?

Thanks for the tip, Ms. Collins, I'm sure there are countless similar examples.

***

Are the copper thieves getting bold or what?

Whomever hit an Edison substation in Whittier knew exactly what to take, and absconded with copper grounding wire. It could fetch a tidy sum at the recycling center.

What's probably most irritating about the theft is that Edison had to turn off the power in most of Pico Rivera and portions of Whittier on a hot afternoon.

One can only hope the thief's refrigerator was affected and his (or her) beer got warm.

Residents of the toney Linda Vista neighborhood in Pasadena received a plea for help from the Pasadena Police Department.

In a letter to homeowners, cops note a string of daytime burglaries in an unnamed "hillside neighborhood"

Here's an excerpt:

"The Pasadena Police Department wants you to be on the look-out. In recent days there have been several daytime burglaries when the victims were away at work ...

"In many of the burglaries it would appear that the suspects are familiar with the hiding places of the residents valuables

"If you see unfamiliar persons loitering or vehicles parked in the area and find it suspicious in nature, regardless of the time of day or night, please call the police department...

Together we can make a difference!

Sort of interesting that the letter implies that the burglars are familiar with thier victims, but asks potential victims to be on the lookout for unfamiliar persons ...hmmmm. Oh if you do see anything, call (626) 744-4241

Jennifer McLain will be reporting this story later today:

 A burlgary ring that involved dozens of homes and a victim who was fired on by a suspect was broken this week. The Temple City's Sheriff's Department arrested four people, including one female, who were led the ring. The woman was arraigned today at the Alhambra Courthouse.

Jen says the ring was operating in Rosemead, Monterey Park and Temple City. More on this as it becomes available.

This is a brief that will run in tomorrow's paper, and the story is apparently a little stale. But I like it because of several elements.  I'm sure you all can guess what elements. Here's the jist of the piece:

A 15-year-old local boy was arrested on suspicion of eight area burglaries after his parents noticed incriminating statements on his MySpace page, said Glendora police Detective Marty Barrett.

After viewing the MySpace entries,  the boy's parents searched their son’s room and found what appeared to be stolen property. After that, they called the cops.

Four of the burglaries were to homes, and the other four were to cars, police said. In each case the boy allegedly took advantage of unlocked doors and windows to commit the crimes, Barrett said.

The burglaries took place over a three week period.

Jewelry, cash, credit card information, electronics, Playboy mags, and adult movies were among the items stolen, Barrett said. All but the cash were recovered.

The teen allegedly used stolen credit card information to purchase $600 worth of iTunes, said the detective.

Once arrested, the teen suspect was “extremely cooperative,” and pointed out all the locations he’d struck, Barrett said. Two of the victims weren’t aware their property had been stolen.

 

This from Brian Day:

Arcadia PD Log Enrty

Sunday, Dec. 9

A residential burglary occurred in the 1000 block of Mayflower between 11:08 p.m. and 11:10 p.m. A resident came home and found a male Hispanic suspect exit the rear of the garage. She confronted the suspect, and he apologized and returned a GPS system that he had just stolen from a vehicle in the garage.