There are two ways I can drive to the preschool. Go all the way down Norumbega to Foothill and take that to the street just before Myrtle, where the school is. Or I can turn right on Valle Vista and take side streets north of Foothill and turn down Encinitas, the street on the preschool side of the Foothill and Myrtle. This particular day, I turned on Valle Vista and noticed a blond woman running down the driveway of a friends house, the Relief Society President and home to two of our babysitters, carrying a big flat screen t.v. I quickly noticed that neither cars were in the driveway and I pulled up just as this woman had walked across the street and was opening her trunk to put the t.v. in. I pulled over and asked, "UM... Are you supposed to be taking that?" Her reply, "Yeh, why would I be talking to you." The first sign that this situation wasn't right was that I know the "Ogilvies" wouldn't have someone taking things from their house if they weren't there. And the second warning was that once I stopped to question her, she put the t.v. in her trunk as quickly as she could, not even putting the cord in and didn't even shut it, just got it in as best she could and scurried to the drivers side and sped off. I sat there knowing I had to do something so I quickly tried to find a pen in my car. I didn't have time to find a paper, so I tried to look in my rear view mirror to write down the licence plate number. But this was all I got since she sped off so fast:
So I reversed and sped off after her. Warning sign number three; She didn't stop at any stop signs. So I was speeding down Norumbega, having pedestrians walking their dogs yelling at me to slow down, and did my best to follow the car. Let me back up and say that when I pulled up there was another woman on the other side of the car already getting in. So I didn't get a good look at her, just a general idea of her hair and tattooed eye brows. So as they took a right on Foothill I was already on the phone with 911. The operator asked me for the licence plate number, in which I had to get right up behind them to see it clearly. So of course they spotted me. The woman driving, a blond, threw her arm out the window as to gesture, "What? Why are you following me?" She changed lanes and then got in front of a truck just ahead of me. I kept giving the operator my location as I followed them, but they made a quick left turn down Magnolia in which I couldn't follow them because of oncoming traffic. The worst part as I tried to watch where they were going so I could catch them when I could turn, was that I saw a police man coming toward me on Foothill, and he passed me, not going down Magnolia. AAHH! Once I could turn, I turned down the street they had quickly swerved on, and they were gone......!I circled back as the police car came where I was, but I realized I had to go back and pick up Heidi still so I couldn't stop to talk to him. (I didn't want to pay $4 for being 5 minutes late in picking her up, which the preschool does, trust me.) I was still on the phone with the 911 operator and told her where I would be, so she could send the officer to talk to me. I ran into the school, picked up Heidi, walked out as the officer was pulling up, got both Heidi and Audrey in the car and called Trista Ogilvies cell phone just as I was walking over to talk to the officer. When she answered, I immediately asked, " Are you giving stuff away from your house?" She didn't quite hear me or understand what I was asking and so I asked, "Are you giving away a flat screen t.v. from you house?" When she said NO! I told her that I just caught two woman robbing her home and that I was going to talk to the police officer right then. She was at a store and would be right home.
I gave officer Mittmann my whole story and description of what I saw. Gave him the address. Then got in my car to go up to the Ogilvies'. I called Ryan of course to tell him what happened and he had just left our house and pulled up to the Ogilvies' just as I had. Trista was already there surveying the mess these two girls had made. All the cupboards were opened, her armour was open and everything pulled out in order to get the t.v. out. All the purses in her closet were on the floor and the cash on her night stand was gone, of course. Her laptop and the ipod attached were taken. The girls rooms were gone through, and the hall cupboard was open. I felt so bad that I didn't catch these girls. They got away from me. I asked, "don't you feel so violated?" From our past experiences, this is how I felt, knowing someone would have to gall to come on our property and take things that aren't theirs. We didn't stay long, but Officer Mittmann had to dust the whole house before she could touch or put anything away.
I went home and stewed over the fact that I couldn't keep up with them till the police followed and found us. I thought, the least I could do was make dinner for them, since I knew they would have a lot of cleaning to do, and dinner is the last thing you want to think of when shook up be something like this. So I made a lasagna, ran to the store for garlic bread and extra cheese to put on the lasagna, and called to let them know I was bringing food. Trista called back around 3 to tell me that they had found the two girls leaving thier house in Pacoima. That is 40 minutes away from here. They ran the registration on the car and called LAPD in that area to check out the house. The car was there, so when they girls went to leave, they pulled them over and found a bunch of random things in the car. They had taken toilet paper, shampoo, tooth paste, lotion, and a bunch of random things you wouldn't think someone robbing you would want. But heh, I guess they are really hurting if they need these things too. However, the t.v. and laptop were gone. They told the officer that they thought I was following them still so they stopped off the side of the freeway and dumped them. They didn't remember where, LIE! I'm sure they went right to someone they knew to sell it for cash. Once they were arrested they were honest about everything else. They told the officer where to find the cash they took, and Trista's wedding ring that was on the night stand with the cash. At least Trista got back the one thing they couldn't replace.
I was asked to go to the Monrovia Police Station and identify the two girls late that night. I arrived around 6:30 and waited a little too long in the front hall, nervous that thier families would show up and know it was me who put them in jail. The Monrovia Police Station doesn't have a two way mirror so they had the girls stand in a hallway facing a side wall so I could look in a small square window to see if they were the two same girls. Officer Mittmann gave me the whole rundown that they could look different cause they had time to change, but when I nervously looked, it was totally them. One thing I noticed right away when I first pulled over was the the blonde was wearing pink pajama bottoms and a sweat shirt, her hair in a tossled pony tail on the top of her head. I don't even remember if she had shoes on. But it was like they woke up this perticular morning and thought, let's go rob some houses! Not even changing to look like maids or some kind of service that should be in a home. So as I identified them, they were the same, with out the sweater.
The Ogilvies were so sweet. Nathan and Trista came over a few nights later to bring a thank you note with a gift card for Cheesecake Factory and movie tickets. They offered to babysit when we were ready to go on a date. I'm always gratefull when people express gratitude for things I have done. I never expect anything in return, but to know they appreciate what you've done makes me want to do more good. This whole experience was like that. I wanted to get out and help other people in any way possible.
It is very true that when you lose yourself in service, you forget about your own problems or issues, no matter what they may be. You forget yourself. And you want to do more. At least this is what I've learned by being at the right place at the right time to catch thieves, (who may have been the same robbers robbing homes in our neighborhood in the past couple weeks.)
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