A tip from an alert citizen led to the arrest of a 51-year-old man who has been stealing backflows for scrap metal in the area since October.
Luis Huizar was arrested Monday after a citizen noticed a suspicious man dressed in all black, carrying a black backpack around 7:30 a.m. According to the witness, Huizar was tampering with the sprinklers near the corner of Muirlands and Ares. When Huizar was arrested, police found a backflow and pipe wrench in his backpack. Backflow devices are used in the City’s landscaped areas to stop irrigation water from mixing with the City’s potable water supply. Replacing such devices costs the City thousands of dollars.
Huizar was arrested in January in Lake Forest for the same crime and is out on bail. Deputies also found two more backflows inside his car, which was parked nearby. Mission Viejo Police Services investigators said that Huizar is responsible for about 20 thefts in Mission Viejo around the areas of Alicia Parkway, Muirlands, and Jeronimo. Huizar was scheduled to appear in court today.
Anyone with information regarding these thefts is asked to call Investigator Brad Kenneally at 949-425-1900.
