Arcadia police, working with other law enforcement agencies, uncovered a major auto theft ring operating in the San Gabriel and San Fernando Valleys. Two men were arrested and four cars were recovered from a warehouse in Arcadia.
A nationwide forgery scheme uncovered by the Arcadia Police Department has resulted in the arrest of three men at the Santa Anita Avenue branch of the Bank of America.
According to the Arcadia Police Department's monthly activity report for the month of December, which reports statistics for the entire year, daytime burglaries increased while night burglaries decreased. Also, there were no murders, 3 rapes, 2 attempted rapes, 36 assaults with a gun and 13 arrests for indecent exposure in 1987.
An international businessman was abducted from his Arcadia home and later released the same evening after his abductors demanded he pay them $1 million. He was told that he would be contacted the next day with instructions about where to put the money, but no money has been paid. This is the first kidnapping of this type in Arcadia, although there have been four other kidnappings in the San Gabriel Valley since last October.
The 14-year-old son of Arcadia real estate developer Charles Bluth shot and killed one of 2 intruders who had broken into the Bluth home in the exclusive Whispering Pines neighborhood.
Crime statistics for the first half of 1979 show a 4.6% overall increase in crime in Arcadia, despite a decrease in the number of violent crimes. This compares to an overall increase of 5.2% for the larger San Gabriel area.
Police are looking into possible connections between 2 murders of elderly women that occurred January 7. Lillian Lehman, 91, was found dead at her Fashion Park Villas condominium in Arcadia, while Dora Peyton, 78, was beaten to death at her Duarte home.
Two Arcadia High School students were served with warrants and arrested at their homes early Wednesday morning on suspicion of selling drugs on the high school campus.
Arcadia Police Chief Charles Mitchell, in a speech to the legislative committee of the Chamber of Commerce, discussed crime and law enforcement in Arcadia.