From David Richie:
Owners of two homes in rural El Dorado County reported major losses last week after break-ins.
At 1:30 p.m. Thanksgiving Day, a couple locked their home on Happy Valley Road in Somerset and departed to have dinner with friends. They returned about 7:30 p.m. to find the home ransacked. The owner told El Dorado County sheriff's deputies that his estimated losses were more than $30,000.
The burglar's take included over $10,000 in medical marijuana, two flat-screen televisions worth almost $7,000, $800 in cash and a laptop computer, as well as antique guns, clocks and knives.
A deputy determined that entry was probably made by popping open a locked dining room window.
On Nov. 23 deputies were called to a disturbing crime scene on Oakley Circle in the Pleasant Valley area. A homeowner told deputies that the break-in must have occurred during the previous 24 hours when the home was unattended.
Nothing had been stolen but a deputy commented that it looked like someone had kicked in the front door and then had gone through the entire home, systematically damaging with rooms with a sledgehammer. Walls, windows, countertops, toilets, and every light fixture had been wrecked. Appliances like the refrigerator and microwave oven also were damaged.
The homeowner said that it will probably cost $65,000 to repair the damage.
Deputies questioned people living nearby, but nobody had noted suspicious activity.
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