Break-ins could be related

A string of burglaries in Newport Beach commercial buildings over the weekend might be linked, police said Monday.

The Newport Trade Center, a complex of seven buildings at 20341 Irvine Ave., and a medical office building at 20072 Birch St. were forcefully broken into Sunday evening. Several computers, a safe and other supplies and equipment were reported stolen from offices in the buildings, police said.

At the center the thieves apparently broke in through a hole they bored in the wall of the building’s leasing office from a vacant adjacent office. The burglars stole keys to other offices in the building from the leasing office and used the keys to burglarize three offices, according to property manager Natalia Larson.

At 20072 Birch St. a computer and other equipment were reportedly taken from a medical office. The burglars entered the building by removing ceiling tiles, police said. Investigators suspect the break-ins were related.

“We think they might be related because they’re in the same area, they happened during the same time frame and the focus of both burglaries was computers,” said Newport Beach Lt. Craig Fox.

Larson reported the thefts Monday morning when she came in to work.

She said the burglaries at her building must have taken place Sunday night because cleaning crews were working until noon Sunday and didn’t report anything, she said. The Newport Trade Center is changing all of the locks on all of their doors, Larson said.

“We’re going to have a uniformed guard here patrolling the property from dusk to dawn until we get the building re-keyed,” Larson said.

ALAN BLANK may be reached at (714) 966-4623 or at [email protected].