Burglars break in through second-story windows at 2 houses in Newport Beach

Two residential burglaries took place in Newport Beach on Friday night, both occurring little over a mile apart and in the same hour.

In a series of communications put out to the public, Newport Beach police said a group of three or four suspects entered the backyard of a property in the Spyglass Hill community at around 8 p.m. on Friday night. The victims were not at home, police said.

The suspects then located a ladder and accessed the house through a second-story window by shattering the window to the master bedroom and fled in an SUV with jewelry of an unspecified value.

About half an hour later, another break-in occurred in the 1900 block of Port Albans Place. A group of suspects accessed the backyard of a property and stacked up patio furniture on a storage container to get access to the second-story window. The window was broken for entry and the suspects apparently located a safe, carried it down the stairs and fled through the front door with it into their vehicle, according to officials.

A resident of the Port Albans Place house received a notice from their front-door security camera and called the Newport Beach Police Department, but the suspects were gone by the time authorities arrived, police said.

Those suspects are described in the police report as three Latinos wearing light-colored hats, sweatshirts, pants, shoes and face masks who fled in a white SUV.

It is unclear if the two break-ins are related. Police did not offer any further details.

Department spokeswoman Heather Rangel said there has not been an increase in residential burglaries in the city and that authorities regularly put out public safety notices to inform the public. On average in the last five years Newport Beach has seen a 28% decline and are showing lower numbers this year than last, Rangel said.

Residents are encouraged to reach out to the department at (949) 644-3717 to report any suspicious activity.

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