Three men and a woman have been arrested in connection with burglaries of more than $1 million worth of property from a storage unit, including vintage comic books and "high-end shoes," and then offering the items for sale on internet auction sites, authorities said Tuesday.
Bryant Escalante, 35, Steven Russell Janossy, 38, Joshua Lee Beebe, 38, and Martha Calderon, 39, were arrested on Thursday, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.
Escalante, Janossy, and Beebe were booked on suspicion of commercial burglary, and Calderon was booked on suspicion of receiving stolen property, the LAPD reported. Each was held on bail ranging from $250,000 to $400,000.
"In April ... detectives became aware of a commercial burglary of a storage unit containing designer shoes worth approximately ($1 million)," police said in a statement. "Detectives received a lead on a person of interest, Bryant Escalante.
"Additional evidence led detectives to stolen vintage comic books, which were stolen from the same storage unit in January 2023," police said. "Investigators observed that several stolen items were being sold by Escalante on popular mobile-driven local marketplaces on the internet."
On Thursday, LAPD Harbor Area personnel, along with members of the LAPD Operations-South Bureau Violent Crime Task Force, served a search warrant at Escalante's residence in Lawndale and at two storage units where stolen merchandise allegedly was housed, police said.
Investigators arrested the four suspects and recovered "a substantial amount of designer shoes and the majority of (the) stolen comic books," police said.
"Escalante has been engaged in criminal activity for the past several years and was arrested in 2020 for the burglary of the same storage unit in Harbor Division," police said. "The suspect mainly targets high value items from storage unit and sells the items on popular internet auction sites."
The investigation is ongoing, and anyone with information on the case was urged to call Harbor Area detectives at 310-726-7900, or 877-LAPD-247. Tipsters may also call Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS, or use the website www.lacrimestoppers.org.
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