Police officers from Glendora, Azusa, Covina, West Covina and La Verne spent the better part of four hours Tuesday afternoon searching for suspects who burglarized one home and attempted to burglarize another.
Four of the eight people arrested were actively involved with the burglaries, while four other subjects in two different vehicles drove into the perimeter set up by police in an attempt to rescue their fleeing friends, police said.
Arrested were:
- Jasmine Lawrence, a 21-year-old male, was booked on suspicion of burglary and possession of burglary tools
- Paulette Gordon, a 21-year-old female, was booked on suspicion of burglary
- Anthony Moore, a 34-year-old male, was booked on suspicion of burglary, assault with a deadly weapon, evading an officer, inflicting serious injury on a police dog and violation of his parole.
- Jeremiah Mitchell, a 25-year-old male, was booked on suspicion of burglary, evading an officer and inflicting serious injury on a police dog
- Courtney Adkins, a 19-year-old female, was booked on suspicion of burglary
- Bobby Bolton, a 32-year-old male, was booked on suspicion of burglary
- Erica Whitson, a 23-year-old female, was booked on suspicion of burglary
- April Stephan, a 21-year-old female, was booked on suspicion of burglary
The Los Angeles residents are being held in lieu of $50,000 bail, with the exception of Mitchell, who is being held in lieu of $80,000 bail. Moore is being held without bail.
A resident called Glendora Police around 3:05 p.m. and reported four suspicious people kicking in a window to a residence in the 600 block of East Palm Drive. The burglary suspects entered the house, but fled soon after.
It is unknown if any property was taken from the house on Palm, said Lt. Scott Strong of Glendora Police.
Officers did recover stolen property from the burglary suspects’ vehicle, property taken from a home in the 800 block of West Leadora Avenue, Strong said. That burglary was reported at 2:36 p.m.
One of the home burglary suspects is seen being hauled away by Glendora Police. Image courtesy of the Glendora Police Department.
As police arrived to Palm Drive, two suspects were immediately detained. Two more were observed fleeing towards the hillside. With the help of a helicopter and several police K9 units, the two suspects were located deep in a ravine, said Glendora Police Chief Tim Staab.
“We released our new K9, Bo, on one of the suspects and was able to stop him,” Staab said.
One of the suspects had pepper sprayed Bo, but he was not seriously injured and is doing fine, Staab said.
An officer attempted to subdue the second suspect in the hills with a non-lethal beanbag round, but missed and the suspect continued to escape. The suspect was eventually arrested.
Around 5:20 p.m., while officers were searching, two friends of the fleeing suspects drove inside the police perimeter to rescue them after receiving a phone call. The friends were honking the vehicle’s horn to get the attention of the suspects … they did nothing more than get the attention of police and were eventually arrested, Staab said.
Around 7:20 p.m. officers located a second suspicious vehicle in the perimeter and detained its occupants as well. Police determined that the occupants were also on scene in an attempt to rescue their friends from the police, Strong said.
One of the suspect vehicles was located on Live Oak Avenue, the second on Brown Sage Drive.
Staab had high praise for the resident who had the foresight to call in the suspicious activity.
“It’s another great example of neighbors being vigilant,” Staab said. “They saw that something wasn’t right and they called us.”
All eight suspects are scheduled to appear at West Covina Superior Court April 2.
