More than $120,000 worth of gear stolen from Tarzana recording studio

TARZANA, LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- In a plot resembling "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas," two people broke into veryspecial Studios on Ventura Boulevard early Christmas morning and stole more than $100,000 worth of equipment, according to the company's CEO Tharith Perera.

Surveillance video shows the masked men get out of a black pickup truck, parked at the bottom of an outdoor staircase. One walks straight to a door downstairs.

"They looked way too comfortable," said Perera. "When they first arrived here, they went downstairs and knew that they had to get our keys."

They then went upstairs, spray painted the surveillance cameras and, with keys in hand, had the recording studio to themselves. Someone is typically there at all hours of the day, every day, but Perera closed his business on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

"My team called me at like 10 a.m. on the 26th and was like, 'Everything's gone,' and I was like, 'What do you mean?'" said Perera.

Perera estimates more than $120,000 worth of gear was stolen, including microphones, compressors and computers. The thieves came back a few times that night, taking their time to get what they wanted.

"They had to literally unscrew each piece of gear," Perera said, showing us the hole where a piece of computer equipment was once secured. "Unhook each piece of gear."

Perera has filed a police report and is working with his insurance. He hopes anyone who recognizes the thieves will call Los Angeles police.

It's unclear if Perera knows the people responsible but based on the knowledge and planning that went into this crime, Perera believes they know him.

"That's what hurts us the most is the fact that, like, we provide this space for our community, and somebody in our community would do this to us," he said.

The community has also stepped in to help him, donating a few pieces of new gear just to help him keep things running in the short term. Perera had to cancel two days of studio bookings this week, costing him at least another few thousand dollars.

Anyone with information is urged to contact police.