Parking lot thefts may be linked

Police are investigating whether 12 cars burgled in local gym lots in November and December have ties to recent South O.C. crimes.Local police are investigating whether a dozen vehicle burglaries in fitness gym parking lots in Newport Beach and Costa Mesa are linked to a suspect of car burglary at an Aliso Viejo 24 Hour Fitness.

Tuesday’s South County burglary is the most recent in a string of thefts from vehicles in gym parking lots across the county, officials said.

Over the holidays, a thief targeted gyms in Laguna Hills, San Juan Capistrano and Foothill Ranch, breaking into cars and stealing valuables, officials said.

In November and December, there were seven reported car burglaries in the parking lot of the Newport Center 24 Hour Fitness. In those same months, Costa Mesa police reported four burglaries in the parking lot of a 24 Hour Fitness in the 500 block of Anton Boulevard, police said Thursday.

In all the burglaries, the thief smashed a car window to get into the vehicles and made off with credit cards, among other items.

Police said it’s too early to tell if the burglaries are the work of one person.

Newport Beach and Costa Mesa police are working with the Orange County Sheriff’s Department to investigate any possible connection, officials said.

Newport police are looking at evidence from the scene of a Nov. 21 car burglary, including blood found on the car and a surveillance tape of the thief at an Aliso Viejo Comp USA store using stolen checks.

“Our detectives are hooked up with Newport to view their surveillance,” said Costa Mesa Police Sgt. Marty Carver.

Police are comparing that video with a video recently obtained by the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, Newport Beach Sgt. Bill Hartford said.

Costa Mesa detectives will work with Newport police to see if credit cards stolen during Costa Mesa burglaries were used at similar stores as those cards stolen in the Newport Beach burglaries, Carver said.An assistant manager at the Newport Center 24 Hour Fitness said Saturday that the gym has taken precautions to warn people about vehicle break-ins.

Signs are posted throughout the gym, reminding people not to leave valuables in their cars and to report any suspicious activity in the parking lot.

Police said people should not leave anything in plain sight in vehicles.