Homeowner fears for safety after burglar breaks into her Marina del Rey home tented for fumigation

MARINA DEL REY, Calif. (KABC) -- A burglar was caught on video breaking into a Marina del Rey home while it was being fumigated, and the homeowner is speaking out as a warning to others.

Alexis Gilliam Lerner said her home was being fumigated due to termites.

Her surveillance cameras captured the suspect in action as he made his way inside the home through a side window.

"What's so frustrating is I have to tell my children, who are 12 and 15, that I'm so very sorry, but those baseball hats that you have been collecting because you play baseball and we went to Cooperstown this summer ... are gone," she said.

Lerner believes the burglar got away with about $40,000 worth of belongings.

She said break-ins have been happening around her neighborhood recently and believes thieves who commit these type of crimes know the chemicals are not as strong after a few days, making it easier for them to walk through the home.

She said she had a security company drive by while her home was tented. Now, she doesn't feel safe.

"If you're going to get your home tented, once you sign a waiver, because you will, you will have to read a waiver, you will have to absolve the company of any wrongdoing in terms of theft or burglary," she said. "It's very frustrating because even if they're telling you, 'Wrap up your food,' all of these things so they cannot get sued, they know people are breaking into these spaces, and it's not fair."

Lerner she hasn't heard from key people responsible for the fumigation since the burglary and thinks termite companies should change their policies.

"I think these companies need to have on-site security," she said. "I think it should be a part of it. You're paying enough money, you need to be responsible, even if at the end of the day, you're not the person walking in. You know that this is happening."

As for the suspect, anybody who recognizes him is urged to call authorities.