A U.S. Forest Service team was robbed of vital equipment during a windstorm in Southern California, prompting an investigation.
It happened on January 17, right in the parking lot of a Holiday Inn Express where the firefighting team was staying during a crazy Santa Ana wind event. Around 3 a.m., these two suspects rolled up in a red Jeep Wrangler and started messing with the locked compartments of the fire engine. They were caught on camera, which is a good thing.
One of the guys was seen with bolt cutters, probably to get into those compartments. They took off with some essential fire equipment and loaded it into their Jeep. The last sighting of the Jeep was when it turned onto 5th Street and disappeared from the cameras.
The first suspect is described as a white male, about 5’7″ to 6′ tall, with a medium build and a thin mustache. He was wearing a black knit hat and a red jacket. The second guy is a Hispanic male, also around 5’7″ to 5’10”, with a medium or husky build, wearing a blue baseball cap and baggy jeans.
If anyone has any info or recognizes these guys from the photos, they should reach out to Officer Tyler Smith at the Federal Interagency Communications Center. They really want to catch these thieves before they strike again.
