Palisades fire victim on ‘heartbreaking’ theft as crime surges in ravaged community

A suburban mom watched in horror as motion-sensor alerts flooded her phone, each notification confirming her family’s Pacific Palisades home was going up in flames.

More than a year later, after thieves cut utility wires leading to the vacant frame of her new home on Mother’s Day, Leslie McConnell now keeps watch over the lot where her house once stood, fearing criminals will strip away what little her family has left.

The 42-year-old had one word for the ordeal: heartbreaking.

“It’s heartbreaking,” she told The California Post. “I don’t know if there are words to explain the grief that we carry, but I believe that I’m doing the best I can to show my children that we are okay, we are resilient.”

The mother of two believes thieves hopped the fence around her vacant lot on Mother’s Day night and cut utility lines, likely thinking they contained valuable copper wire. The lot is where her home stood before it was destroyed in last January’s fires.

While the crime wasn’t debilitating to her — the cost set construction back a week — she is one of several victims of a crime surge from opportunistic criminals invading the area and taking advantage of residents without security around their vacant lots. A recent email from an LAPD officer to residents showed that at least 8 such property crimes had happened in recent weeks.

Police advised residents to tighten security around their lots, secure any construction materials, and put up cameras where they could. Cops said they would deploy “as much resources as we have available” to the area.

“We are asking for your help by trying to harden the target,” LAPD officer Brian Espin told residents.

Police haven’t given any additional resources to the area because of the minor nature of the crime reports, McConnell believes. McConnell said she didn’t have any security measures around her vacant lot before the May 10 theft, because she said she had nothing of value on her property.

She responded by installing motion-sensing cameras and lights and hiring private security to patrol the property. The security costs several hundred dollars a month, while the equipment set her family back thousands.

Even so, McConnell struggles to understand why anyone would target fire victims already trying to rebuild their lives.

After the theft, she attempted to file a police report but said the process felt like a “joke,” leaving her with little confidence anything would come of it.

While the financial loss was limited, the emotional toll was significant.

The theft, she said, felt like a setback at a time when her family is fighting to move forward.

A self-described “diehard Palisadian,” McConnell grew up in the neighborhood and is now living with her parents nearby while her home is rebuilt. Their house narrowly survived the fires thanks to a neighbor who hosed it down as homes across the street burned.

The fires claimed her home, treasured keepsakes she wishes she could have recovered, and even her job, which she left to focus on helping her family rebuild.

She said rebuilding her family’s life has since become her full-time mission.

She believes the robbers knew the neighborhood was vulnerable as devastated residents rebuild.

“It’s pretty clear that we were vulnerable,” she said. “I guess I’m not surprised that we have been targeted.”

McConnell said she’s only grown more worried about her house under construction, anxious that robbers might take any valuables once they do start making it a home. The 42-year-old says she hopes people understand that the next wave of thefts, if they come, can happen to anyone.

The thievery has her turning to politics for a solution.

“Nobody’s immune to it,” she said. “I used to not be very political at all because I lived enough in a bubble that I felt ultimately what happens wasn’t going to affect me because I had a community that I felt secure and strong with, but now that it has unfathomably and quite literally burned down in all respects, I think we’re all much more vulnerable to the choices we make.”

The mother of two is supporting Spencer Pratt, another Palisades fire victim, in the upcoming mayoral election. Pratt, who has championed fire victims and vulnerable mothers, is challenging incumbent Mayor Karen Bass — whom he blames for losing his house in the fires.

But regardless of her political beliefs, she wants the community to stand together no matter what happens.

“I think we need to stick together as a community, politics aside. We need to rebuild and stay strong.”

---

Download The California Post App, follow us on social, and subscribe to our newsletters