Man Says Nearly $60,000 In Items Were Stolen From Mid-Wilshire Home In Burglary

MID-WILSHIRE (CBSLA.com) — A local man hopes signs promising a $10,000 reward will help bring back the belongings he says were stolen from his home in the Mid-Wilshire area.

Michael Pescasio, a cinematographer, says he and his wife had gone grocery shopping Monday afternoon and returned an hour later to find their master bedroom ransacked.

"I feel so violated. I'll do whatever it takes to find these people," he said, adding that his closets and drawers were torn apart and the bathroom cabinets were emptied of prescription drugs.

"They pulled all that stuff out, and they were actually on the bed," he explained.

Pescasio believes the suspects entered through a dog door and went upstairs to his bedroom, where they likely stuffed his pillowcases with jewelry and cash.

He says the total loss was valued at roughly $60,000.

"It's really hard to think about actually because we could have prevented this potentially," he said.

Pescasio says he had turned off the alarm system believing his two large pit bulls would have been enough to scare away potential intruders in the short time the house was empty.

But he was wrong.

He says the one item he wants back above all others is a watch his mother gave his father when she was alive.

"It's just recovering the stuff. It's really not about the money lost. It's about things that aren't replaceable," he said.

The family says officers took fingerprints. They plan to meet with detectives later this week.