Facebook brings two car burglary victims in Palms area together

(FOX 11) - Los Angeles Pacific Station Detectives say year-to-date, grand theft auto reports are down in the Palms area anywhere from 35 to 40 percent. However, if you're a victim it doesn't feel that way.

What a 29-year-old named Alex and another man named Scott Salinas feel good about is that they both have video and still photos of the people they believe turned them into victims.

Where Alex lives, there are security cameras everywhere. You can see them, but apparently two women who found their way into his underground garage didn't pay attention and missed all seven. They ended up on video from five of them. His car was stolen, which he says was the first car he ever got.

Rewind to last month. Sean Salinas' car was broken into in his underground garage. His computer was stolen. Using a location app, Salinas tracked down his computer 72 hours later in the car -- with the same two women.

He confronted the women who had it and took pictures of them. Salinas showed us his stolen laptop and laughed saying a smudge on the upper right of the screen is "one of their fingerprints."

What happened when he confronted the women?

"Basically," he says, "I just walked up to them and as they were getting into the car I said, 'that's my laptop. They were literally on my laptop on wifi trying to steal my identity and I said 'that's my laptop.'"

He determined that by the history he reviewed. He told the women, "you can wait for the cops and give it to them or you can give it to me now."

"They were like flustered and gave it to me and took off," Salinas said.

Because both victims have a mutual friend - they found each other on Facebook this week.

They traded pictures they took from their crimes. They agreed it looked like the same women.

And police agree too after seeing the pictures and video obtained by FOX 11.

Lt. Aaron Ponce says they will be looking for the two women and believe the women were at both locations.

Ponce says to avoid being a victim, don't leave things visible in your car that might be attractive to thieves. He adds that it's important to remember the phrase: "Hide it, lock it, keep it!"

If you know anything about the women, detectives in Pacific Station would appreciate a call.

Copyright 2017 FOX 11 Los Angeles: Download our mobile app for breaking news alerts or to watch FOX 11 News | Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. Be a citizen journalist for FOX 11 and get paid - download the Fresco News App today.