YouTube Surfing Sensation, 18, Suspected In Newport Beach Burglary Spree

NEWPORT BEACH (CBSLA) — An 18-year-old surfer and YouTube sensation is accused of being behind a rash of Newport Beach home burglaries.

Quinn Kasbar gained notoriety surfing on an air mattress this summer when the video went viral.

Now, Newport Beach detectives suspect Kasbar is the serial burglar who has targeted a number of unoccupied homes in Newport Beach and Corona del Mar for the past six months.

Police say they were surveilling Kasbar last week. They say when they tried to take him into custody this month, he first tried to get away, ditching his car in a parking lot off PCH and Dover. When officers cornered him, they say he jumped in the bay and started swimming. O.C. Harbor patrol picked Kasbar up out of the water. He was arrested on suspicion of multiple burglaries, identity theft, possessing burglary tools and resisting a police officer.

Police say they served a search warrant on a storage unit Kasbar had in Newport Beach and found several hundred thousand dollars in stolen items. Detectives say he also sold items at local pawn shops.

Kasbar has an Etsy shop. His friends told CBS2/KCAL9 he bought items on Craigslist and re-sold them on Etsy.

Friends, who wouldn't go on camera, say Kasbar comes from a good family, was home schooled, got good grades and took good care of his siblings with autism. His mom was voted one of the most influential people of the year by the O.C. Register in 2014 for inventing software to help those with autism.