Police arrested three men and one juvenile Monday for thefts from vehicles in the Harbor View Homes neighborhood, authorities announced Tuesday.
Kevin Allan Purdue, 23, of Costa Mesa, Andrew Samuelu, 18, of Huntington Beach, Joseph Richard Veenstra, 20, of Fountain Valley, and an unidentified 17-year-old Garden Grove male, were all arrested, according to a statement released by the Newport Beach Police Department.
An NBPD officer stopped a vehicle around 1:30 a.m. at Pacific View and San Miguel drives.
“A few minutes later, a second Newport Beach Police Officer conducted a separate traffic stop on a vehicle in the area of San Miguel Drive and San Joaquin Hills Road,” the statement explains.
Both vehicles contained multiple items of stolen property, wrote NBPD spokeswoman, Kathy Lowe.
“Further investigation revealed that the occupants of both vehicles were working together and had recently taken property from unlocked vehicles in the Harbor View Homes (Port Streets) neighborhood,” she continued.
When officers contacted the two victims, they were both unaware of the thefts. Their property was returned.
Further investigation revealed the four criminals were responsible for a theft from a vehicle in Huntington Beach. It is suspected that the four men may be responsible for other thefts.
All four were booked on suspicion of 496 possession of stolen property.
According to county records, Purdue works in customer service and Samuelu is a student. Both are being held on $20,000 bail. Veenstra’s records were unavailable.
Anyone with additional information is asked to contact Detective David Darling at (949) 644-3799.
