A pair of "hot prowlers" are on the loose in Hollywood, moving through apartment buildings as security cameras capture them checking doors until they find one that's unlocked and let themselves in, even if a person is inside.
Ned Stresen-Reuter lives in one of the latest apartment buildings to get hit by the thieves, one of them in the 1600 block of North Laurel Avenue near Hollywood Boulevard, the other off Selma Avenue, on Nov. 23 right around midnight.
Footage of the incident shows the duo jumping a side fence, slipping through a gate and checking apartment doors.
Stresen-Reuter said he thought he heard his back door swing open.
"I was like, 'Okay, I think someone is coming into my apartment,' and I just froze," he told KTLA.
In that moment of fear, he recalled accidentally leaving the back door unlocked. When silence returned to his apartment, he looked around the corner and realized the key fob to his car was gone.
Security cameras in the parking garage show the prowlers clicking the key fob, walking around and searching for his vehicle.
"Luckily, it wasn't here," Stresen-Reuter explained. "I share that car with a friend of mine, so he had it at his house. I feel very lucky about that whole situation."
Despite coming up empty-handed, the two suspects weren't finished trying to get their hands on something of value that night.
Surveillance footage shows the duo in a second building right around the corner. The thieves are seen prowling the hallways, checking every single door.
"This video is good because you can see him trying to open the door. The cops told me the other day that that's really what they need to see because that's considered entering," Stresen-Reuter said. "I think these guys will get caught because it's just so brazen to go into someone's place while they are there."
As for what he's going to do without a key to his car, he said he's already started the process of getting the vehicle to the dealership, getting a new key and deactivating the old one, though it's not going to be cheap. He said the ordeal will cost him around $500 or $600.
Police are urging residents to stay vigilant because making one mistake and forgetting to lock a door is like an invitation to thieves.
"I just think that those guys are dangerous," Stresen-Rueter said.
So far, no arrests have been made.
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