A group of local volunteers discovered that the hills of the Santa Susana Pass have turned into a dumping ground for stolen safes and ATM machines.
"There's a good chance if somebody stole your safe, it could be right here," volunteer David Weisberg said.
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Weisberg is with the nonprofit Volunteers Cleaning Communities, which picks up trash along freeways and cleans illegal dumping sites. They were working in the area when Weisberg noticed something odd down a steep shoulder of the 118 Freeway.
"We came across this whole site that was a whole mess of safes," he said. "I hiked down there and find a whole bunch of paperwork, passports, living trusts."
His group made another discovery about a half mile down the Santa Susana Pass Road, a den of stolen safes and ATMs ditched by criminals.
"I look down and I see a big machine," Weisberg said. "I found two. I thought maybe a safe or another box. It's an ATM machine."
With the help of his girlfriend, Weisberg was able to track down one of the victims living about 50 miles away, in Glendora.
"This is people, their lives and stuff that they need," he said. "I gathered it all up and hiked it up."
When Kenn Ramage picked up the phone, he was surprised that Weisberg found his belongings.
"It was like, you've got to be kidding," Ramage said. "They said we got all this paperwork, social security cards and stuff like that."
Security camera video shows the moment thieves roll Ramage's safe onto a dolly and stuff it in the back of a car. Ramage said it happened last summer, and most of the valuable items, like his family's antique guns and jewelry, were gone. However, treasures, including his daughter's recent wedding photos, were left behind.
"I just thought these guys were pretty well-organized," Ramage said. "They know exactly the place. It's right off the 118. It's dark, no lights."
The Los Angeles Police Department began investigating the case. As the police work leads, Weisberg isn't putting anything past the thieves and their not-so-hidden graveyard.
"It does seem like quite a coincidence that on this particular hill there's seven safes down there," Weisberg said. "That they would be all dumped in the same spot, you'd think it's the same ring."
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