- 6 weeks ago
The Los Angeles Police Department held a press briefing with Mayor Karen Bass to announce arrests following an operation that targeted members of a burglary crew.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Good morning, everyone. I'm Jen Forkish, Public Information Director for the Los Angeles Police Department.
00:06Thanks for coming this morning. We're going to start off this press conference by hearing from our mayor, Karen Bass,
00:14followed by the chief of police and our district attorney. We will take questions at the end. Thank you.
00:19Good morning, everyone. Today, Angelenos can be proud of the extraordinary work of our LAPD and our regional partners.
00:31In the early hours of last Friday, LAPD led a coordinated operation across multiple jurisdictions
00:39that successfully took down a burglary crew responsible for nearly 100 break-ins across our city and across our county.
00:48I want to thank the tireless work of our officers and detectives.
00:53This crew, which had victimized families and businesses, is no longer a threat to our neighborhoods.
00:59I want to thank especially the detectives from West L.A. and their work and their leadership in this effort.
01:06I want to thank our chief, Chief McDonald, Chief Choi, and all of the men and women of LAPD
01:12and our partners in Hawthorne, Inglewood, and Carson for their collaboration and commitment
01:17to keeping our communities safe.
01:19And I also want to acknowledge the work of our district attorney, Hawkman, to help Los Angeles stay safe.
01:27This operation is a major win for our city, but it is also part of a bigger story.
01:32Just a few weeks ago, we learned that homicides are at a 60-year low.
01:37Earlier this year, we saw overall violent crime in Los Angeles continue to decrease.
01:42And these are not just numbers.
01:44They represent lives saved, families kept hold, and neighborhoods feeling safer.
01:50But that's data.
01:52That's not necessarily how people feel.
01:54And how people feel about their safety is what is critically important.
01:59And arrests like the ones that have been made are a major contributing factor to that.
02:04The partners we have built between the LAPD, regional law enforcement agencies, and our communities are making a real difference.
02:13We know that there's a lot more to keep every Angeleno safe, but let me be clear, we will not stop doing whatever we need to do to combat crime.
02:23When we hear about break-ins in Encino or Sherman Oaks or a burglarized break-in of a business in South L.A., we do not rest until we find those who are responsible.
02:35We will continue to pursue justice for those who are targeted and work to prevent crime from happening in the first place.
02:42And we will continue to make Los Angeles safer, neighborhood by neighborhood, block by block.
02:47Thank you very much.
02:49Chief McDonald.
02:50Thank you very much, Mayor.
02:51Hey, good morning, and thank you for all joining us today.
02:55I'm here to announce a major operation conducted last week on Wednesday, August 20th,
03:00where the LAPD, in collaboration with multiple divisions, areas, and external agencies,
03:05serve multiple simultaneous search warrants, targeting a prolific burglary crew.
03:11This operation is a testament to our unwavering commitment to public safety
03:15and our strategy to disrupt groups preying on our communities.
03:19Some of the details of the operation at 5 a.m. on the 20th, teams from West Los Angeles area and Operations West Bureau,
03:27along with detectives from North Hollywood, West Valley, Olympic, Hollywood, Wilshire, and central areas,
03:34serve warrants at eight residents across Los Angeles, Hawthorne, Inglewood, and Carson.
03:39This coordinated effort involved our gang impact teams, Metropolitan Division platoons,
03:45along with support from Hawthorne PD, Inglewood PD, and LA County Sheriff's Department Carson Station.
03:53A little bit of background on the burglary crew and the crimes.
03:56The targets of this operation were members of what was referred to as the Rich Roland Burglary Crew,
04:03responsible for 92 residential burglaries in the city of Los Angeles.
04:07Some of these crimes date back to 2022, but the majority occurred in 2024 and 2025, impacting families across our city.
04:16These crimes spanned across West Los Angeles, Pacific, Hollywood, Wilshire, North Hollywood, West Valley, Northeast,
04:25Devonshire, Foothill, and Topanga Divisions,
04:28showing the reach and impact these offenders had on families throughout our city.
04:33The break-in in this case came in February 2025, when three of the suspects involved in this ring were arrested following a vehicle pursuit.
04:45Officers recognized the van as being used in two burglaries that occurred the day prior on February 12th.
04:52Following that arrest, detectives began using information they obtained to identify additional suspects.
04:59In April of 2025, a search warrant was served at a residence in Los Angeles.
05:04At that time, two rifles, five handguns, a large amount of ammunition, body armor, large capacity rifle and pistol magazines,
05:13including a 50-round handgun drum, purses, jewelry, high-end watches, stolen credit cards, fake ID, as well as multiple license plates were recovered.
05:24We do not believe this particular crew is tied to the rash of recent burglaries in Encino.
05:30While this crew may not be connected to Encino, we've made progress with other recent arrests
05:35and continued to dedicate significant resources to identifying and apprehending those responsible.
05:42Ten suspects, all adult career criminals with prior arrests for violent and property crimes, have been identified.
05:49Ten are confirmed gang members from the Roland 30s and 5-5 neighborhood.
05:54In custody from August 20th Operation, Devon Collier, 37 years of age, Tyrone Tisby, 47, Frank Tisby, 38, Jeremy Shepard, 38,
06:07Jermaine Kimbrough, 22, Michael Lewis, 20, Eric Cannon, 40, and Markel Lewis, 26 years of age,
06:15were all booked on charges including burglary and possession of controlled substances while armed.
06:21Already in custody on unrelated charges, Anthony Leslie, 36 years of age, and Sean Quinney, 36 years of age,
06:29both facing attempted murder charges.
06:32These individuals represent the kind of repeat offenders we're targeting through our crime suppression strategies,
06:38and their arrests underscore our progress in reducing burglaries and other crimes.
06:42During the searches, we recovered 15 firearms, several reported stolen from residential burglaries,
06:49and a large quantity of ammunition in various calibers,
06:53and a large capacity assault rifle and pistol magazines to include a 50-round handgun drum magazine,
07:01six handheld communications radios, face masks, headlamps, burglary tools, window punch tools,
07:07cans of bear mace, narcotics, a money counter, cell phones, and stolen property including three high-end watches,
07:16U.S. and foreign currency, high-end bracelets, designer purses, and suitcase, and wallets.
07:24So you look at everything that was taken here, just a major hit to any family that was impacted.
07:29This evidence directly links the crew to their crimes and will strengthen our cases.
07:35In the bigger picture, while technology is a game-changer,
07:39nothing replaces a watchful neighbor or an active neighborhood watch.
07:43That's the most important tool that we have in preventing burglaries.
07:46We're doing more with less, deploying increased patrols, air support, mounted units,
07:52and community engagement like Coffee with a Cop, senior lead officer outreach,
07:56and working with our community police advisory boards to build trust and foster relationships.
08:02If you see something suspicious, please call us.
08:05Your tips help us disrupt these crews before they can strike again, maybe at one of your neighbors.
08:11This operation is part of our ongoing efforts to restore peace of mind to our community members.
08:16We listen to the community and use every resource we can to ensure safety for all.
08:22So thank you again for following this case,
08:25and our hope is to be able to let everyone know we're there for them.
08:29We're working these cases hard.
08:31Often when you don't hear anything about what the work that's being done,
08:35there's a lot of work in people, and I look around right adjoining me for this press conference.
08:40Amazing work.
08:41I could not be more proud of our officers and detectives who've been out there
08:45leading the way on this, and I'm very thankful to them.
08:49I'd now like to introduce our next speaker,
08:51Los Angeles District Attorney Nathan Hochman.
08:55So I'd like to first start out with a thank you.
09:02A thank you to our mayor.
09:03Our mayor has done her best to provide resources to law enforcement
09:08and work with other elected leaders to make a priority on funding safety
09:14by building up the Los Angeles Police Department.
09:17That is incredibly crucial.
09:19Right now, as the chief said, they are doing more with less.
09:24New York City, for instance, has 36,000 sworn officers.
09:29LAPD has less than 8,700.
09:32If you add in all the officers for the sheriff's department
09:35and the 45 local law enforcements,
09:38we have around 20,000 sworn law enforcement officers.
09:42New York City has 36,000 for a much smaller geographic footprint.
09:48So I applaud the mayor and her commitment to helping fund law enforcement
09:53and working with her other elected leaders to get that done.
09:57My second thank you is to the chief and to all of Los Angeles Police Department.
10:03These are very difficult cases.
10:05In other words, you have a burglary or a residential robbery that goes on.
10:09Then you have to go track these people down.
10:12What LAPD did in this case to track these eight individuals down,
10:17and by the way, these are the eight that will be discussed that have been charged with crimes,
10:21but there's a lot more out there that they're going after.
10:24Their techniques are absolutely cutting edge for law enforcement
10:29to go ahead and track down these criminals.
10:32They follow leads from wherever those leads go,
10:34and then they engage in both a technological type of law enforcement
10:39as well as just the pounding the pavement,
10:42going from location to location to location,
10:45leading to the search warrants, leading to the arrests in this particular case.
10:50I also want to thank members of my own DA's office in the Organized Crime Division.
10:55We have here Sergey Shubin right here who will be in charge of these prosecutions.
11:00And here's my message to the criminals.
11:03You don't want to see Sergey Shubin.
11:06You do not.
11:07Or any member of the Organized Crime Division of the DA's office.
11:11Because let's talk about what these crimes are.
11:14These are not crimes of need.
11:16These are crimes of greed.
11:18What you have is individuals often not from the communities,
11:22and you'll see a chart over here detailing the 55 cases that the DA's office has,
11:31but there's an additional 45 cases that are under investigation.
11:36These are the ones that are charged.
11:38And what you have is individuals who are not from these communities.
11:42These particular eight individuals were from different parts of Los Angeles,
11:46not these communities.
11:47But they come in these communities.
11:50And they come in there not because they need anything, but because of the greed.
11:54And they don't want to actually use the purses.
11:57They don't want to use the stuff that they are stealing for their own personal benefit.
12:01Of course not.
12:02They are turning that into money.
12:05And one of the other things we've gone after today are the fencers,
12:09the people who are actually taking these stolen goods,
12:12turning them into money,
12:13distributing that money out,
12:15and then going ahead and continuing this operation.
12:19And who do the fencers go ahead and deal with these stolen goods?
12:24They don't want to keep them themselves.
12:26They, in turn, have to turn them into money.
12:29So very often they are using hard locations throughout the community,
12:33pawn shops, and the online marketplaces.
12:36And here's what I'm telling you about the online marketplaces.
12:39They're working with the police.
12:41Whether it's your Amazons, your Ebays, your Facebook marketplaces.
12:45They are working with the police to help identify these fencers,
12:49to then go after the fencers.
12:51When they get the fencers, they go after the actual burglars and residential robbers
12:56that stole the stuff in the first place.
13:01Now, the chief discussed, and I want to discuss again,
13:04the eight individuals that we have brought charges against.
13:07And when I discuss charges, as I always do, I make it perfectly clear.
13:11They're just charges.
13:13A charge itself is not evidence in a courtroom.
13:16And we will have to convict, and we will convict,
13:19each of these eight individuals, beyond a reasonable doubt,
13:23with evidence in a court of law.
13:25But right now, we have the charges, and the charges are against these eight individuals.
13:31They range in ages between 22 and 47 years old.
13:36They're Jermaine Kimbrough of Lawndale,
13:38Anthony Leslie of Los Angeles,
13:41Sean Quinney of Los Angeles,
13:43Frank Tisby of Los Angeles,
13:46Tyrone Tisby of Hawthorne,
13:48Eric Cannon of Los Angeles,
13:50Jeremy Shepard of Marina Del Rey,
13:52and Devin Collier of Los Angeles.
13:56Now, many of these individuals have one strike or two strikes,
14:01which means, for especially the two-strike individuals,
14:05they are looking at a maximum of life sentences.
14:09So these are very serious consequences
14:12for these people who are thinking
14:14and doing a cost-benefit analysis.
14:17The benefit is you get some money.
14:19The cost now is severe.
14:23These people will be,
14:24we will be seeking to have these people
14:26serve maximum sentences,
14:29and for the people with one or two strikes,
14:32that maximum sentence can be a life sentence.
14:36So we are sending that message out to the community,
14:39and not just to the public,
14:40to show you that we are working incredibly hard.
14:43And even if you have a robbery or a burglary,
14:45we get it.
14:46We're going to try and track that person down that day.
14:50But I want the burglars and the robbers to know
14:52that if we don't get you that day,
14:54we're going to get you.
14:55It might take a couple weeks.
14:57It might take a couple months.
14:59In some of these cases, going back to 2023,
15:01it took a couple of years.
15:03But we're going to track you down.
15:05We're going to get this stolen merchandise.
15:07And we're going to put you in jail or prison,
15:10and in some cases, for the rest of your life.
15:16So again, I very much thank the mayor.
15:19I thank the police chief.
15:20I thank these incredible officers
15:22that we are surrounded by today.
15:24I thank members of my own division,
15:26because I want to make sure that this warning message
15:29is received by the would-be criminals.
15:32The criminals who are out there right now thinking,
15:35is it worth it to go ahead and rob or burgle a house
15:39anywhere in Los Angeles County?
15:42Let me give you the answer to that question.
15:44The answer is no.
15:48We are now, I believe, open for questions.
15:50If you could identify who you're with
15:53before asking your question.
15:55Anybody want to go first?
15:56Chief Alex Stone, NBC.
15:58How they were targeting their victims.
16:00Was this just completely random in welfare areas?
16:03Anybody want to talk about that?
16:06And we're celebrities.
16:08And introduce yourself.
16:12Good morning.
16:13Detective 2, Carlos Correa from West LA.
16:16As far as how they were targeting,
16:18it's still ongoing investigation.
16:21Multiple times we do have technical information
16:25where they had been taking surveillance photos
16:28of certain locations,
16:29but I'm not going to go too far into that information
16:32because it's still an ongoing investigation.
16:35Detective, does it seem though
16:36that they were targeting certain people
16:37like celebrities in this case,
16:39all the cases that are out there?
16:41From my knowledge, not this series, no.
16:44Next question.
16:47John Cleaver with the General Court Chief.
16:50I know I think a lot of people look at this.
16:51A lot of people say congratulations.
16:54But what about the people
16:55in the city of Sherman Oaks
16:56who've seen that big rash,
16:58especially over the summer,
17:00are going to say, what about us?
17:01All right, exactly.
17:02We follow the cases where they go,
17:05the cases that we identified here today.
17:07These are the cases we were able
17:09to tie these individuals to.
17:11There are a lot of other cases that are working,
17:13a lot of good work still being done as we speak.
17:15So please be patient with us on that.
17:18And again, just touching base on
17:20what can you do to try and protect yourself.
17:23As we mentioned, a good neighbor,
17:25watch out for each other.
17:26Know your neighbors, first of all.
17:27If you see vehicles parked in the neighborhood
17:29that don't belong there,
17:32take a look at them.
17:33Call in, let us know,
17:34talk to your senior lead officer.
17:36A lot of times, cars will be pre-positioned
17:38with cameras on them,
17:39outfitted to watch your pattern of life.
17:41If somebody's watching you,
17:43obviously they have an edge
17:45to know when you're home,
17:46when you're not home.
17:47That's the kind of thing they're looking for.
17:49We've seen cases where cameras
17:51have been put in flower beds
17:52across the street from the house
17:53to be able to establish that pattern of life.
17:56The types of things being stolen,
17:58we mentioned,
17:59they're easy to be able to sell off.
18:01But at the end of the day,
18:03nothing works like, you know,
18:05somebody who cares about a neighbor
18:06and then they for you as well.
18:09So thank you for that.
18:11Next question.
18:13Hi, Dakota,
18:14from the LA Fund.
18:15Yeah.
18:15Can you write down the neighborhoods
18:17in Los Angeles where this occurred?
18:19How many were in the city of LA?
18:21And then specifically,
18:22it looks like there's a big cluster
18:23on the left side.
18:24Is that LA County,
18:27what LA neighborhoods are those?
18:28Yeah,
18:29what we've laid out here is LA City.
18:31And as you can see from the map here,
18:33the burglary,
18:33was it 91 or 92 total?
18:3592.
18:3692 total burglaries
18:38in the city of Los Angeles.
18:40There are other cases
18:41working outside the city limits.
18:43What we've identified here
18:44is within.
18:45And as you can see,
18:46they do cluster in certain areas.
18:48There are others that are spread
18:49throughout the county,
18:50or throughout the city.
18:51And, you know,
18:53you can identify the neighborhoods
18:54from that.
18:55I mentioned some of the neighborhoods
18:57that were most involved.
18:59And we had detectives
19:01and members of the department
19:03from a wide variety of divisions
19:05that assisted in this
19:06that were from the involved areas.
19:08And just to follow up
19:10on this issue
19:10about the flower beds
19:11in the valley.
19:12Yeah.
19:13I mean,
19:13how many times
19:14have you seen somebody
19:15putting a camera
19:16in a flower bed?
19:18We're aware of that.
19:19I couldn't give you a number
19:20on how many times
19:21we've seen it.
19:22It's a type of tactics,
19:23and the goal here
19:24is to be able
19:25to educate the community
19:26what to look for
19:27and the MO
19:29for these suspects
19:30that they are sophisticated.
19:31They do things like
19:32have the ability
19:35to jam your Wi-Fi cameras,
19:37jam your Wi-Fi alarms.
19:40And so
19:40all the more reason,
19:42technology is very helpful,
19:43but it's not an end-all.
19:45The good neighbor
19:46is solid.
19:49Next question.
19:50Yes?
19:50Cecilia,
19:51Bogdanum,
19:52Univision.
19:52Have you seen,
19:54because these are from here,
19:56these people,
19:58this gang,
19:59have you seen any other
20:00jurist gangs
20:01still operating in the city?
20:04I'm sorry,
20:04what kind of...
20:05Oh, the South American
20:08burglary crews.
20:09There have been
20:10less of those lately.
20:12Anybody want to talk
20:13specifically on
20:13the prevalence of that?
20:18So,
20:19Detective Carrillo,
20:20so what I've seen
20:21specifically to West L.A.,
20:23and we have
20:24these communications,
20:25these conferences
20:26between all the other divisions,
20:27is that they're still around,
20:29but they're not as active
20:31as what we're seeing,
20:32the more local burglaries,
20:34more local burglars,
20:35but there's still
20:36ones or twos
20:38here and there
20:38in different areas,
20:39specifically in our area
20:41in West L.A.,
20:42we still see them.
20:44Will you have someone
20:45that gives us a statement
20:46in Spanish?
20:48Yeah.
20:49Yeah, you both.
20:50We do.
20:51We have someone here.
20:53Dakota?
20:54Sorry, AC.
20:55Sorry.
20:56Monica Vanda,
20:56good morning.
20:57Hi, Monica.
20:57My question is,
20:58is there any pattern
20:59you can share with us
21:00in terms of
21:00if any of these happened
21:02throughout daylight,
21:03was it overnight hours,
21:04were people home at a time
21:06that these people
21:07need their way
21:07inside their home?
21:08Yeah,
21:09there's a wide variety
21:11of answers to that,
21:13and they've done
21:13all of the above.
21:16You know,
21:17when I talked earlier
21:18about the MOs
21:19they use,
21:20they try and find
21:22when you're not home
21:23so that they can hit it,
21:24but we've seen
21:25a lot of daytime burglaries
21:27and I was trying to see,
21:28I think on that
21:29we lay out the time of day
21:30so that map might be helpful
21:32for you to be able
21:33to see what time
21:35it happened.
21:37And again,
21:38they're very innovative,
21:39very creative
21:40in their approach to this
21:41and we're trying
21:42to be able
21:43to stay with them
21:44on that.
21:45Next question.
21:49I have a question
21:50for the mayor.
21:51Mayor Bass,
21:52you had said
21:53to a Xeno resident
21:54two weeks ago
21:55that you were really
21:55impressed with the
21:56Beverly Hills
21:57real-time police
21:58monitoring station
22:00that you visited
22:00and is that something
22:03that would ever,
22:04you know,
22:04be used in L.A.,
22:05be replicated
22:06and the police
22:07have talked about
22:08their use of drones.
22:09Why isn't L.A.,
22:11you know,
22:11doing,
22:13adopting what they're doing?
22:14Well, I can start
22:14when you want to ask you that.
22:16And if you really
22:17like it.
22:19Sure.
22:19What I saw in L.A.,
22:21what I saw in Beverly Hills
22:23was the strategic use
22:24of drones
22:24and I know
22:25that L.A.P.D.
22:26is testing
22:27some of that now.
22:28I'll let the chief
22:29go in to details.
22:30But I think
22:31where we can use
22:32technology,
22:34especially given
22:35our challenges
22:36in not just
22:37recruiting officers
22:38but hiring officers,
22:40it's an additional tool
22:41that I think
22:42can be helpful.
22:43Also,
22:43a lot of neighborhoods
22:44like the license plate readers
22:45as well
22:46and that's another form
22:47of technology
22:48that can be used.
22:49Yeah,
22:51thank you for the question
22:52and we are
22:53as best we can
22:54trying to be able
22:55to stay up
22:55with technology.
22:56Beverly Hills,
22:57Redondo,
22:58Torrance,
22:58Chula Vista
22:59have been the leaders,
23:00the pioneers,
23:01if you will,
23:01in the use of UAS's
23:04that are called drones
23:04to be able to do
23:06particularly drone
23:07as a first responder
23:08to get it out there
23:09quickly,
23:09to be able to have
23:10a video downlink
23:11that can share
23:12what's happening
23:12at the scene,
23:13to follow a suspect vehicle
23:14or a suspect
23:15away from the scene.
23:16It really is a game changer
23:18and they get there.
23:19They don't replace
23:20our air units
23:20but they supplement them
23:22and we're looking forward
23:23to using them.
23:24We have started off
23:25in Central Division
23:27with a pilot program.
23:28We're also going to do it
23:29in Topanga,
23:30West LA
23:31and look at other divisions
23:32as well
23:33and the key to that
23:34is to be able to see
23:35which companies
23:37provide a product
23:38that works in the area,
23:39the area as it pertains
23:41to topography,
23:42line of sight,
23:43different models
23:44have different requirements
23:45and different capabilities
23:46so we're trying
23:47to be able to establish
23:48for the LAPD
23:49which are the best brands,
23:51which are the best models
23:52and which technology
23:53works best for us
23:54so that is in progress.
23:56We also are working
23:57on a real-time crime center
23:58that would be
23:59a city-wide effort
24:00and all of the technology
24:02that they can pull together,
24:05body-worn cameras,
24:06in-car video systems,
24:08automated license plate readers,
24:10all of that will be fed
24:11into the real-time crime center
24:12so from one location
24:14we'll be able
24:14to have a pretty good read
24:15on what's going on
24:16in the city
24:17and to be able
24:18to deploy the resources
24:19that we do have
24:20as efficiently as we can.
24:23Time for one last.
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