SAN DIEGO — Ajay Panchal didn’t realize anything was wrong when he first walked into his Carmel Valley home Saturday night, then he saw the master bedroom. Shattered glass all over the floor.
His wife’s jewelry sprawled out across their bed. Ajay immediately checked his security camera, and the videos confirmed his fear.
Caught on camera, a burglar with a flashlight and gloves looking into his home. The thief then walks around the side of the house, unbothered that a motion light comes on, and shines his flashlight through another window.
“So the guy came from that side and he is checking to see if somebody is home,” said Ajay as he showed CBS 8 the video.
Ajay and his family weren't home when it happened, last Saturday around 5:45 p.m. A second video shows the burglar trying a door handle. He then spots the camera and waves to it before turning the camera out the way.
“To me, he looked very confident and he knew what he was doing and he was not scared at all,” Ajay said.
The thief stacked a bunch of outdoor furniture, climbed up to a second floor balcony, and broke the window on a door leading to the master bedroom. When Ajay came home about three hours later, he found the broken glass and the room turned upside down.
The thief rummaged through drawers and closets and then seemed to take his time picking through the items he wanted. He took small, valuable items, but left behind dozens of pieces of less expensive costume jewelry and things that could easily be traced back to the owner.
“There was my computer, my watch in that closet which was right there in the open, but he didn't take anything of that,” Ajay said. “So he was mainly looking for the jewelry.”
Ajay thinks the thief accessed his property from a public open space behind his backyard - which is consistent with the actions from a band of burglars that have been targeting exclusive neighborhoods across the county, known as the South American Theft Group. They also stack furniture to access second floors, and seem to dress similar to the guy Ajay caught on camera.
His neighbors' cameras did not catch any video of the thief, but they did capture a car that seemed to enter the neighborhood around the time of the burglary. It parked a few doors down, facing Ajay’s home. The driver never left the vehicle. They believe that person was watching the home to alert the thief if Ajay’s family returned home during the burglary.
Ajay and his neighbors are now looking at ways to increase security, but most of all, he's thankful his family didn't come home while the thief was inside. “The good thing was nobody was hurt because it could be worse than this,” he said.
CBS 8 reached out to the San Diego Police Department for an update on their investigation, but we are still waiting to hear back.
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