By Eric Furth
Staff Writer
On Saturday, February 28th, 25-year-old Harbor City resident David Jesse Lord was arrested outside of the Manhattan Village Mall after a call was made from a passerby. He was possessing drug paraphernalia and believed to be intoxicated.
Lord was found to be connected to three previous burglaries after police searched his car and found stolen license plates, several garage door openers, sets of car keys, Garmin GPS devices, methamphetamine, and stolen mail from various Manhattan Beach mail boxes.
“Lord was a criminal that the Manhattan Beach Police Department has been trying to find for quite some time,” MBPD Detective Shawn Thompson said, “We had knowledge that there were burglaries occurring throughout the city, but it was becoming increasingly difficult to pinpoint a suspect.”
The vehicle Lord was in was revealed to have been stolen on January 25th. In addition, Lord was arrested with the charges of narcotics and narcotic paraphernalia, along with possession of a stolen vehicle, burglary, and possession of stolen property.
“I am uncertain how operations at Manhattan Village will change because of the arrest of Mr. Lord,” Manhattan Beach mayor David Lesser said, “We all, however, need to be more vigilant in protecting our property.”
Lord had a previous encounter with Manhattan Beach police in September of 2014, where he was arrested for possession of stolen property. Additionally, Lord has been directly involved in two previous burglaries in Manhattan Beach homes Police are currently still investigating the connection Lord to had to other unsolved Manhattan Beach burglaries.
“The single most important security measure residents can take to protect their property from being stolen is surprisingly simple — remember to lock home and car doors and windows. We live in a beach community where crime is low and most of us are used to not securing our property. But it comes at a price,” Lesser further stated. “A surprisingly high number of property crimes are due to residents simply failing to take preliminary precaution.”
Lord is currently arraigned in a Torrance court, being held on a bail of $96,000. He is currently awaiting trial at an undetermined date, under the charges he was placed against when he was arrested on the 28th of February.
“We did everything in our power to bring Lord to justice,” Detective Thompson said, “Hopefully, his punishment will fit the crimes he’s committed.”
Leave a Reply