Union City family loses life savings in home burglary
UNION CITY, Calif. - A neighbor’s surveillance camera captured an increasingly common crime near its conclusion on Wednesday in Union City. A trio of burglars is seen casually walking off with a family’s life savings.
"For them to take everything, that’s messed up," said Kelvin Ling, struggling to hold back tears welling up in his eyes.
He was fuming over his parents' loss. Ling says his mom and dad, Winnie and Alex, owned an Asian market in San Rafael for two decades. They had recently retired and were away from their home when burglars broke in through two windows sometime between 7 and 9 a.m. They ransacked the house and left with expensive items and cash totaling $500,000.
Ling said the family’s home security system did not activate.
"We never got any alerts from the security department. And we’re just so disappointed that they had several hours to go through everything," he said.
Union City police didn’t comment on the case.
In March, the Los Angeles Police Department issued a Wilshire community alert about burglars using Wi-Fi jammers to defeat home security systems, and steal "high-end jewelry, purses and currency."
"They would have to know something about the frequency of the Wi-Fi or other wireless signal. And if they could jam that signal with enough interference, they could shut down the camera," said tech analyst Larry Magid, who is also the CEO of ConnectSafely. "If they know what they’re doing, it wouldn’t take that much time."
Ling said although the stolen items were insured, receipts and certifications were in the boxes of the stolen merchandise. He’s dubious if anything can be recovered.
"This is something that is being used not only by these sophisticated burglary rings out of South America, but they’re also being used by domestic burglars here in the United States," said professor Ken Gray, a retired FBI agent who now teaches at the University of New Haven.
He said the professional burglary scourge has spread everywhere.
"They were routinely using jammers as part of their burglary tools as they moved around the country," said Gray.
Knowing how the crime was committed is cold comfort for Kevin Ling and his family, who immigrated to the United States from Hong Kong because they said the United States felt safer. Now, Ling’s parents must figure out retirement when the savings safe is bare.
"They lost all their money now. They don’t even feel safe in their home. They might have to move into my house," Ling said.
Police ask residents in Alameda County to be on the lookout for the getaway vehicle, a Mercedes SUV. If you have information, please contact police.
Jesse Gary is a reporter based in the station's South Bay bureau. Follow him on Instagram, @jessegontv and on Facebook, @JesseKTVU