Burglars target Glendale apartment building during fumigation

GLENDALE, Calif. (KABC) -- The Glendale Police Department is investigating a string of burglaries in the same apartment building that happened while the complex was being fumigated for termites.

"They took an entire safe. Our entire bedroom was ransacked. And there were a lot of things missing and one of our cameras that was installed in the kids bedroom, that was gone," said Mikael Tsaturyan, who has lived in the building for six years.

Tsaturyan and his wife thought they were getting two nights in Las Vegas away from their home, but they received a call Thursday morning that it had been broken into. They immediately raced back.

Residents said 10 of 16 units in the complex were burglarized.

Based on what was taken and their dealings with the fumigation company, who allegedly hired a third party to spray, Tsaturyan and his neighbors believe it was an inside job. Before they left for the fumigation, tenants said they showed what was inside their safes to workers.

"We were asked to actually show the safe, show the contents of the safe so the company can make sure there's no perishables in there. Food products. Even marijuana because that could be contaminated. And they said, 'we're not going to touch any walls, any doors, any windows. We're just going to leave everything as is,'" Tsaturyan said.

His neighbor, Vatche Martirosyan, said the request to inspect the safes raised red flags for him.

"I don't know who keeps a sandwich in a safe or an apple for a rainy day. I don't understand that and they said, 'Make sure we look inside and what's inside,'" Martirosyan said.

Eyewitness News spoke to the fumigation company, but they said they had no comment. The tenants said they are considering filing a lawsuit and some are already looking for new apartments.

Glendale police said they have no suspects in custody.

"I don't want to point fingers on anybody, but it's clear as day. The time that the break-in happened. You had to go in with oxygen masks and they knew that. Otherwise you would have died from the fumigation," Martirosyan said.