Two men caught after undercover detectives said they watched a burglary-in-progress at a home in Woodland Hills Tuesday were charged with first-degree residential burglary, vandalism and for fleeing from officers.
Rondale Strickland and Jerome McClendon, both 20, were accused in a criminal complaint of burglarizing a home – while the residents were inside – in a neighborhood south of Ventura Boulevard near the Taft High School campus.
Strickland was being held with no bail and McClendon in lieu of $300,000 bail, according to booking records.
At the time of his arrest Tuesday McClendon was free on bail following a police chase that took place in May, and a previous assault with a firearm case filed last October, according to court records.
The break-in happened around 10 a.m. when a glass door or window at the rear of the residence was shattered, and the thieves were apparently unaware they were being watched by undercover detectives.
The detectives followed the men, and a high-speed pursuit began when uniformed LAPD officers tried to stop their car in the Mid-City area.
The chase ended in a crash near 98th and Wall Streets in South LA when the Tesla collided with a parked car, and the men were apprehended following a foot chase and a search of the neighborhood.
The LA County District Attorney’s Office said it’s filed nearly 800 felony residential burglary cases this year, including this one, and said Friday the case remains under investigation.
Source: NBC Los Angeles