Todd Hitomi was asleep in his Sherman Oaks home on Dixie Canyon Place when he woke up to find several men already inside. He confronted the intruders, called 911, and watched them flee with a bunch of his belongings after approaching his property from a dirt trail.
The break-in is the latest in a string of residential burglaries that have rattled San Fernando Valley neighborhoods, according to ABC7 Los Angeles. Residents in Sherman Oaks, Encino and Studio City have all experienced home break-ins recently, with the Valley logging at least seven incidents since September 18, the outlet reports. Two San Fernando Valley homes were broken into overnight in one recent cluster, underscoring how quickly these incidents have piled up.
Neighbors Turn to Cameras and Shared Intel
The pattern has pushed residents to organize. Neighborhood watch captains gathered last month to share information and community-protection strategies, per the same ABC7 account. In Studio City, Charlotte Larsen's neighborhood installed a Flock camera that captured license plate information tied to another break-in, while a Ring camera caught a picture of the vehicle suspect — footage Larsen then sent directly to police.
Investigators told ABC7's On Your Side Investigates team that intruders in these break-ins typically gain entry by smashing glass windows or doors, a detail attributed to a detective who spoke with the outlet. That tactic lines up with broader reporting on how organized burglary crews operate across Southern California, where groups have been documented using Wi-Fi signal jammers to blind security cameras and hidden cameras disguised as fake-turf boxes to track homeowners' schedules, according to FOX 11.
What Security Experts Recommend
Consumer Reports found that cameras costing as little as $20 or $50 can still be effective deterrents, and the organization recommends investing in cloud-based video storage as well. Dan Wroclawski said cloud video storage is worth paying for because it provides evidence if something bad happens, and he noted homeowners can sign up for one month of professional monitoring while on vacation and cancel the subscription once they return home. Consumer Reports also recommends homeowners consider a monitoring service specifically for the period when they leave town. Beyond cameras, the outlet's reporting notes that homeowners should consider installing motion sensors and significant outdoor lighting as additional deterrents.
A Valley Already on Edge
The Sherman Oaks incident follows months of mounting anxiety across the Valley. In April, a 24-hour burglary wave hit Sherman Oaks, including a break-in on Davana Terrace where suspects returned to hit the same house a second night, as Hoodline previously reported. That same month, Mayor Karen Bass and LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell ordered a high-visibility patrol surge across the Valley and the Ventura Boulevard corridor, deploying mounted units, air support and mobile license plate readers, according to FOX 11.
By May, Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman, Chief McDonnell and LA County Sheriff Robert Luna announced felony burglary charges against seven people accused of participating in more than 20 organized residential break-ins across the Valley, the Los Angeles Times reported. Officials said upscale Valley burglaries are primarily carried out by two distinct groups — local crews from South Los Angeles and transnational theft rings whose members enter the country on 90-day tourist visas from South America, per the same Times reporting.
Citywide Numbers Don't Match Valley Fear
Citywide burglary in Los Angeles actually dropped from 15,340 reported cases in 2023 to 11,303 in late 2025, but security analyses indicate organized crews have shifted their focus toward affluent Valley neighborhoods, which accounted for roughly 40% of citywide residential burglaries in 2025, according to the Safety Host Unit. That gap helps explain why Valley residents feel disproportionately targeted even as broader crime statistics trend downward. The LAPD had deactivated its dedicated Follow-Home Robbery Task Force back in March 2023 after roughly 125 arrests and a 78% reduction in follow-home incidents from its 2021-2022 peak, shifting responsibility back to local divisions and regional task forces.
Under California Penal Code Section 459, entering an inhabited structure with intent to commit theft is automatically charged as first-degree residential burglary, a felony carrying two, four or six years in state prison that counts as a strike under the state's Three Strikes law, according to Eisner Gorin LLP. When two or more intruders force entry into an occupied home and take property directly from residents using force or fear, the charge can escalate under Penal Code Section 213(a)(1)(A) to home-invasion robbery in concert, which carries enhanced sentences of three, six or nine years, per Cron Israels and Stark.
Heightened fear across the Valley traces back in part to the July 2025 double murder of American Idol music supervisor Robin Kaye and her husband Thomas DeLuca inside their Encino home, which prompted LAPD's West Valley Division to deploy dedicated crime suppression details. For Hitomi and his Sherman Oaks neighbors, the latest break-in is another reminder that, despite citywide declines, the threat inside the Valley's canyons and cul-de-sacs hasn't eased.
