District Attorneys push for increased penalties for wildfire looters

LOS ANGELES (KTLA) – As local law enforcement and the California National Guard work to protect homes in the wildfire evacuation zones from looters, two local district attorneys want to increase the punishment for those who are caught looting.

Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman and his counterpart in Orange County, Todd Spitzer, have proposed legislation to make looting during a local emergency a felony punishable with a state prison sentence. It would also classify looting as a strike under California’s Three Strikes Law and make it harder to expunge from a criminal record.

“There is a special place in jail for those who exploit the vulnerable in the wake of deadly fires,” Hochman said in a statement on Tuesday. “As hundreds of thousands of families face the unimaginable anguish of fleeing their homes, uncertain whether they’ll ever return, the last thing they should fear is the added trauma of criminals preying on their misfortune.”

On Monday, Hochman announced charges against nine people suspected of looting homes in the Palisades and Eaton wildfire evacuation areas.

In at least one case, a group of burglars was seen on surveillance video inside an evacuated home. In another, an Emmy Award was stolen, Hochman said.

The district attorneys are urging California Gov. Gavin Newsom to amend his special legislative session proclamation to include this legislation.

The proposed legislation includes:

• Increasing the punishment for looting to a two to four-year state prison felony.
• Creating a new felony offense of trespass with intent to commit larceny.
• Adding a looting enhancement to increase penalties for any felony committed during a local emergency.
• Requiring judicial review before releasing anyone arrested for looting.
• Designating looting as a serious offense under the Three Strikes law.
• Excluding looting from eligibility for diversion programs.

“Current law falls woefully short for punishing these scavengers who are nothing more than graverobbers, stealing the last remaining possessions from those who have already lost everything, including their own lives,” Spitzer wrote in a letter to the Legislative Council.