Dozens of out-of-town vultures have been busted for sneaking into ritzy neighborhoods in the Los Angeles wildfire evacuation zone to loot abandoned homes — and local police are naming and shaming them as a warning to the rest.
More than 40 people have been bagged by the Santa Monica police since swaths of the area and the neighboring Pacific Palisades were evacuated last week ahead of the deadly 24,000-acre Palisades Fire.
About 88,000 Los Angeles County residents have been ordered to evacuate their homes — and tens of thousands more were told to flee last week to escape the fast-moving blazes.
Ten of the suspects were charged with burglary, while the remainder were charged for a laundry list of drug, driving, previous warrants and violating probation or parole.
At least two were been found with handguns, cops said.
“This is a significant increase in the normal number of arrests in the neighborhoods,” the Santa Monica Police Department said.
“None of the arrestees are from Santa Monica,” said police in the wealthy enclave, which is just down the coast from the Pacific Palisades.
In many instances, the suspects were caught during basic traffic stops or pulled over for being on the road outside of the area’s strict 6 am to 6 pm curfew.
Police searches of their vehicles found things like masks, gloves, window breakers and other paraphernalia that appeared to indicate plans to break into homes.
Some even had items looted from the area’s empty mansions stowed away in their cars, cops alleged.
And many of their cars were outfitted with fake license plates.
Looters have become a headache for the tens of thousands of Angelenos who have been ordered to evacuate from their homes ahead of the wildfires, which have been raging across more than 20,000 city acres since they sparked a week ago.
On Tuesday, Los Angeles DA Nathan Hochman announced nine indictments for suspected looters — many of whom were also caught sneaking around evacuated neighborhoods far from where they lived.
“Let me be clear: If you exploit this tragedy to prey on victims of these deadly fires, we will find you and we will prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law,” Hochman told reporters.
