Burglars Target Office Building in L.A. - 60 Businesses Affected
Sunday, April 26, 2009
In a bold, systematic hit on a landmark Ventura Boulevard office building, burglars stole scores of computers from at least 60 businesses there, taking machines containing sensitive legal documents, credit card numbers and the tax information of thousands of people.
The theft at the Chateau Office Building in Woodland Hills left accountants, a talent agent, property management companies, attorneys and other businesses in the three-story structure scrambling to assess their losses as police scoured the premises.
Deputy Chief Michel Moore of the Los Angeles Police Department said that computers, some files and other items were taken from the 60 businesses.
The theft appears to be targeting data, as it was only computers that were stolen and the thieves left behind other valuable equipment, including monitors, faxes, copiers and printers. Several business owners and law enforcement concluded that the thieves’ target must have been the information contained on their hard drives, not property.
One business owner said the credit card numbers of 7,000 clients were stolen. Accountant Richard Levy said his stolen computer held the tax documents of 800 clients. Attorney Marshall Bitkower said only three computers were taken from his office, but “they had all kinds of stuff. Everything: people’s names, credit cards, clients, e-mails back and forth — who knows what.”
Source: L.A. Times
