Investigation Leads Underwater

Bear Valley Springs, CA, 7/20/2011-   As part of ongoing follow-up investigations related to recent thefts, the Bear Valley Police Department and the Under Water Operations Dive Team from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department conducted a detailed and difficult search for stolen property at the Four Island Lake area of Bear Valley.

A team of eight divers searched a wide area along the northwest shoreline of the lake. The conditions were extremely uncooperative for a search operation, as divers faced murky zero-visibility water at about ten feet in depth forcing searchers to blindly do their task a few feet at a time. Divers worked in two person teams to prevent each searching diver from swimming away from the area as; even their scuba equipment was hindered by the no-visibility conditions. After about four hours in the water, the dive was concluded and determined to be a success.

The search brought about the recovery of over 25 items, including the most “public safety” related item; a 12-guage shotgun. Power tools, such as drills and chainsaws and electronics such as iPhones and iPods and GPS devices. Even a big screen television has been recovered from the lake.

As reported previously; in early June 2011, the investigation brought about the arrest of one individual connected with the handling of 1000’s of dollars of stolen photographic equipment. Currently, BVPD is following up on clues as to the identity of the individual(s) responsible for this latest collection of underwater loot.