Security cameras captured thieves loading up a big safe stolen from the inside of a family’s home while they were out trick-or-treating. As seen on the NBC4 News at 11 p.m. on Nov. 3, 2024.
A Garden Grove family’s home was burglarized on Halloween while they were out trick-or-treating with their young child.
Orange County couple Vicki Nguyen and Peter Lee say they feel rattled after their home was broken into by thieves who targeted them on what should have been a fun evening. According to the pair, they realized after the fact that they were being followed by thieves who trailed them to several locations.
While they were in Orange, the couple noticed their car’s tire was slashed. Moments later, they received a call from their security company notifying them of a break-in.
“Panicking, I thought this was a really bad sign and so I checked my phone to see if anyone’s in our home and it was offline,” Nguyen said. “My husband checks his phone, it was also offline … so he called our neighbor because we share this group chat on WhatsApp and asked the neighbor to check to see if anyone’s inside and he asked to FaceTime us so we could see what’s going on.”
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During the FaceTime call, the victims’ neighbor said the thieves were taking a safe from their home and loading it into a vehicle. Security footage the couple was later able to retrieve should the moment the thieves did so.
“It was two guys – masked, gloves, hoodies,” Lee said. “These guys knew exactly what they were doing. They killed the power to the house … they went straight for the goods. They knew exactly where to go, I mean, the place wasn’t ransacked.”
In addition to the safe, the thieves also took the couple’s jewelry and an expensive collection of bags Nguyen collected over the years.
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“It’s my life’s earnings, all the years we put into our business,” she said. “Our entire life’s savings and things like that was just going down the drain.”
“It just sucks,” Lee said. “People like us, we work hard for our stuff. It’s not fair. At the end of the day, we don’t feel safe. We don’t feel like our home is our home anymore.”
The Garden Grove Police Department is investigating the theft. Additionally, the couple say they are considering hiring a private investigator to bring the culprits to justice.
Anyone with information on the case is urged to contact Garden Grove police at 714-741-5704.
