Meeting at MA
Crime in Montecito and Insurance Rates post-L.A. Fires
Santa Barbara Consignment Day Tuesday, February 25
We ofer auctioe coesiiemeen or immediate purchase. Our Specialists are traveling throughout California collecting Jewelry, Watches, Hanlbags, Fine Art, Silver anl more.
Van Cleef & Arpels Long Gold and Lapis ‘Alhambra’ Chain Necklace, France Sold for $50,000
by Joanne A Calitri
T
he Montecito Association February 2025 meeting was held in person at the Montecito Library community room and on Zoom, Tuesday, February 11. Leslie Lundgren, 1st VP MA, called the meeting to order and moderated the presentations. Present were MA Executive Director Houghton Hyatt and the full MA board. The top agenda item was the crime presentation by SB County Sheriff Lt. Rich Brittingham with SBC Sheriff ’s Special Crime Division Detective Anthony Nunez and Sgt. Neil Gowing. They showed the data on the growing crime scene driven by organized gangs from Chile, Venezuela and other South American countries. Nunez provided data points with a slide show on the gangs. Cogent points he stated were: “The burglaries are complex cases of organized crime by these gangs that come into the U.S. and station in Los Angeles, then go to New York and other cities. They are called the South American Theft Groups, aka SATG, who target U.S. residents’ homes. They have both men and women on the team, usually three to four total. While the men are observing the houses they are planning to burglarize, the women are at CVS taking people’s credit card numbers, copying your car key fob to rob the car and contents, including cell phones. The homes they prefer to rob are those of affluent celebrities and athletes. They conduct surveillance prior to the robbery to figure out your pattern of being home and being away, they place cameras on the properties they are targeting, and generally they want no one at home. They are highly skilled and are in and out in three minutes targeting primary bedroom’s safe boxes and jewelry. They use signal jammers to stop your alarms, cell phones and home video surveillance. They sell the stolen items back in their country of origin. After we do arrest a gang, things quiet down for a few weeks and then they are back.” To find and arrest the criminals, Nunez explained, “The SBC Sheriff ’s Department uses the Flock System network of cameras, which was given to us on a trial basis for two years with 25 cameras, of which three cameras are in Montecito – two at Birnam Wood and one at Montecito Union School. The trial period is up and we need to keep the Flock service agreement, and will speak to the SBC Board of Supervisors.” For Montecito residents, Nunez advised: - Purchase license plate readers (LPR) and install surveillance cameras on your property. If you own the camera and pay for the yearly subscription, it’s around $2,000, and you can then give the data to the Sheriff ’s Office.
MA Meeting Page 314 314
Platinum, Fancy Intense Yellow Diamond and Diamond Rin g Sold for $572,000 Bulgari Platinum and Diamond Ring Sold for $1,175,250
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Detective Nunez goes over the criminal gang situation at the Montecito Association meeting (photo by Joanne A Calitri) “Freedom is a road seldom traveled by the multitude.” – Frederick Douglass
20 – 27 February 2025