Around 2:55am, the officer saw Enrique Ambriz inside a restaurant in the 3700 block of Atlantic Avenue and arrested him after he exited the building.
“The initial investigation found the suspect had broken into the store by breaking a window and that he was also responsible for other commercial burglaries that occurred earlier in the night,” wrote LBPD Sgt. Brad Johnson in an emailed response to the Signal Tribune this week.
Ambriz was transported to an LBPD station, where he was booked for commercial burglary, Johnson said, adding that the investigation is ongoing.
On the afternoon of Nov. 10, LBPD Lt. Poe Siavi’i, Jr. alerted Blair Cohn, executive director of the Bixby Knolls Business Improvement Association, about the burglaries via email, indicating that five businesses had been affected.
Siavi’i wrote that the following had been burglarized: Carl’s Jr., 3700 Atlantic Ave.; Baja Sonora, 3502 Atlantic Ave.; Asian Chef, 3553 1/2 Atlantic Ave.; Subway, 3401 Cherry Ave.; and Wing Stop, 2018 E. Carson St.
In an email to the Signal Tribune, Cohn expressed disappointment about the incidents but gratitude that police had caught a perpetrator in the act.
“It always disturbs and upsets me when I hear of a ‘crew’ going around to break into our businesses hoping to get some quick cash,” Cohn wrote. “In this case I am very, very happy that LBPD caught a suspect immediately. I don’t want this type of activity here, nor anywhere actually, but it’s a reality we have to deal with. If we keep up our security patrols and encourage our businesses to be vigilant with their own safety measures, then we will be ahead of most and in better shape.”
In his email to Cohn, Siavi’i suggested that local merchants make their businesses “less attractive to the criminals” by adding more lights, activating or repairing security cameras, not leaving cash and other valuables in the store, and not leaving the cash register open with cash inside.
