Irvine police arrest woman tied to storage unit burglaries

IRVINE, Calif. (KABC) -- Irvine police confiscated several tubs of stolen mail and property after the arrest of Lorena Guadalupe Arreguin, a member of a trio blamed for a string of storage unit burglaries and mail thefts across Orange County.

Officers now hope to find the rightful owners of the stolen property.

According to Irvine police spokesperson Kim Mohr, the burglars carried out a string of mail thefts in more than 20 storage units within several cities including North Tustin, Laguna Woods, Newport Beach and Costa Mesa.

According to police, once inside the facility, the suspects allegedly broke into storage units and moved stolen property into their own vault.

"Suspects are using either their own identity or the identity of a victim to rent out storage units at various locations in Irvine and Santa Ana," Mohr explained.

"They're trying to fraudulently open credit in these victims' names. They're trying to create checks using information that they've gained from the storage facilities or from the mail thefts," she continued.

Irvine police believe the crimes occurred in the past six weeks and is asking anyone with information to come forward.

"If you do have a storage unit to store your belongings, you shouldn't keep personal or sensitive information in that unit," Mohr urged storage unit owners.

Victims of the thefts are asked to call the Irvine Police Department at (949) 724-7188.