Week In Review

A rash of vehicle burglaries has hit west Glendale, Montrose and La Crescenta in the past two weeks, with thieves targeting underground parking garages in apartment buildings, police said.

Police haven’t been able to pinpoint an exact pattern for the vehicle burglaries, Glendale police Det. Mauricio Barba said.

Thieves have been breaking into subterranean garages for apartment buildings and town homes and performed smash-and-grab burglaries on multiple vehicles at each location, according to a Police Department-issued crime bulletin.

Cell phones, iPods, sunglasses and portable navigation systems were some of the valuables most commonly stolen from the vehicles.

The stolen items can be sold for $50 to $100 on the street, Barba said.

The doors were left unlocked in some of the vehicles in La Crescenta, police said.

Vehicle burglaries have been occurring in spurts throughout the year, and police have tried various methods to inform residents, such as sending out crime bulletins via a citywide e-mail alert system and creating public maps of burglary locations.

So far this year, the number of vehicle burglaries in Glendale has reached 512, up from 489 last year, according to the Police Department.

Glendale police have arrested some of the thieves, Barba said.

 The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted this week to extend a $20,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person who killed 83-year-old Jean Clinton Roeschlaub in her downtown Glendale condominium more than three years ago.

Supervisors extended the reward for the second time Tuesday, which was established in January, hoping to help Glendale detectives with leads on the cold case.

But police have yet to receive any tips, said Det. Keith Soboleski, the lead investigator on the case.

Clinton Roeschlaub was the co-owner of the historical Clifton’s Brookdale Cafeteria in downtown Los Angeles.

With few clues left at the scene, her death has remained a mystery, officials said.

Friends and family became concerned about Clinton Roeschlaub after she failed to show at meetings. They asked managers at her Monterey Island condominium to check on her.

The condominium manager found her stabbed to death on the floor of her home at 3:15 p.m. Aug. 2, 2006, police said.

Police found no signs of forced entry, and nothing was stolen, Soboleski added.

BUSINESS

A new Trader Joe’s and a revamped Vons here could spell trouble for the area’s only independent grocer.