Smash and grab retail burglar nabbed

LA Police arrested the alleged crew head of a smash and grab burglary gang last week.

Patrick Taylor, age 40, got collared as he departed his home on the 4500 block of Rodeo Lane in Los Angeles.

Police say he and his crew are responsible for many smash and grab raids on stores and boutiques along Melrose Ave. between La Brea and La Cienega in past weeks.

The LAPD report said: "[Mr.] Taylor has been the subject of a lengthy investigation where he was identified as the suspect for two and potentially many more commercial burglaries in the Melrose Village district of the Wilshire Area.

"For several months, Wilshire Burglary Detectives had been working on a series of commercial burglaries where high end women's clothing and fashion accessories were the target of the attack."

One merchant, according to the Melrose Action website, Marc Jacobs, suffered from multiple burglaries in recently.

Mr. Taylor and his crew also worked the Miracle Mile portion of Los Angeles.

Police described the arrest as easy, awaiting him outside his home below the Baldwin Hills at around 7 p.m., the Wilshire Special Problems Unit (SPU), working in conjunction with Wilshire Burglary Detectives, arrested him as he drove out of his driveway.

By 3:00 am the next morning detectives returned with a search warrant and recovered hundreds of items that are believed to be taken in commercial burglaries of clothing stores, cellular telephone stores, a mattress store and tools and small motors that are believed to be a motorcycle shop.

Detectives now believe that Taylor and his crews worked in multiple cities and areas within the City and County of Los Angeles.