LOS ANGELES (KTLA) – As local law enforcement and the California National Guard work to protect homes in wildfire evacuation zones from looters, two local district attorneys want to increase penalties for people caught looting. That’s what I think.
Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hockman and Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer have proposed a bill that would make looting during a community emergency a felony punishable by state prison. It would also classify looting as a strike under California’s three-strikes law, making it difficult to exclude it from strikes.
Interactive 3D map shows Eaton Fire perimeter and evacuation areas
“There is a special place in prison for those who exploit vulnerable people after deadly fires,” Hochman said in a statement Tuesday. “Hundreds of thousands of families have faced the unimaginable pain of fleeing their homes, not knowing if they will ever return, and the last thing they should fear is further violence from criminals who prey on their misfortune. It’s traumatic.”
Hockman on Monday announced charges against nine people for allegedly looting homes in the Palisades and Eaton wildfire evacuation areas.
In at least one case, a group of robbers was seen on surveillance video inside a evacuated home. In another incident, an Emmy Award was stolen, Hochman said.
District attorneys are asking California Governor Gavin Newsom to amend the special legislative order to include the bill.
A video shared by the Los Angeles County Attorney’s Office shows robbers ransacking a home in Los Angeles’ Palisades fire evacuation zone. January 2025 (LA County Attorney’s Office)
The proposed legislation includes:
Increases the penalty for looting from two years to a four-year state prison felony. Creates a new felony offense of trespassing with intent to steal. Adds a looting enhancement to increase penalties for felonies committed during a local state of emergency. Require judicial review before releasing anyone arrested for looting. Designates looting as a serious crime under the three-strikes law. Exclude looting from diversion programs.
“Current law punishes scavengers who are nothing more than grave robbers who steal the last remaining possessions from people who have already lost everything, including their own lives,” Spitzer wrote in a letter to the Legislature. “It is woefully inadequate,” he wrote.
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