A homeowner in East Los Angeles is fuming after his home, which was tented and being treated for termites over Super Bowl weekend, was burglarized and he believes he knows who is responsible.
Security cameras on Jack Fornelli’s home on Brookfield Street captured a masked and hooded thief entering his home and spending nearly an hour ransacking the family’s property.
The suspect escaped with cash, jewelry, designer handbags, priceless belongings and a firearm owned by the homeowners.
The 79-year-old, who has been in the home for decades building a life as a husband, a father, grandfather and now great-grandfather, showed up later to document the crime.
“They took a lot of silver coins, gold coins as well,” Fornelli said. “They took a lot, a whole lot.”
The victim believes people connected to the fumigation committed the crime and he feels there were red flags along the way.
“The gentleman asked me if I had a safe and I told him, ‘No, I don’t have a safe. Why would you ask?’ He said, ‘Well, I have to open everything. You have to open all the drawers, the microwave, the stove, everything has to be open,’ so it doesn’t trap any gas, I’m assuming, but kind of that’s what he said,” Fornelli explained. “I said, ‘Okay, but I do have a jewelry box and it’s quite heavy and I can’t carry it out of here.”
The homeowner said the company representative told him not to worry and that everything would be fine, but what bothers him is that he believes the thief knew exactly where to go and what he was looking for.
Fornelli and his family have been gathering surveillance footage from neighbors and think they may have spotted the getaway car.
“I believe it’s an inside job,” Fornelli told KTLA’s Chris Wolfe.
The family has filed a report about the burglary and continues to hand over evidence to the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department.