Property Returned to Los Angeles Times Burglary Ring Victims

An additional 20 victims of a home burglary ring who used stolen Los Angeles Times vacation hold delivery lists were identified, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department announced Wednesday.

The victims live in Arcadia, Pasadena, Santa Monica and West Covina, according to the sheriff's detectives. Property stolen by the ring, including a collection of Elvis Presley art and "a number Thomas Kinkade prints," have been returned to 45 victims, said Lt. Kent Wegener of the sheriff's Major Crimes Bureau.

"Many people have also been able to recover personal possessions of great sentimental value," Wegener said. "One granddaughter was grateful to find out her grandfather's irreplaceable World War I military deployment records had been recovered."

Stolen property valued at over $100,000 was recovered when arrests of members of the San Gabriel Valley-based were made, according to the sheriff's Headquarters Bureau.

Four men have been charged in connection with the burglary ring.

One of the men, Duane Van Tuinen, 51, of Azusa, reportedly worked as an office machine repairman and was under contract to distributors of the Times to repair their office machines. A conspiracy charge alleges Van Tuinen entered a distribution warehouse in Baldwin Park last June and "stole a list of the Los Angeles Times subscribers who had called in to suspend their paper delivery for vacations."

Detectives have received hundreds of telephone calls from victims asking about their property following extensive media coverage of the arrests. Investigators expect they will be following up with other victims over the next several weeks.

Stay connected with Santa Monica Patch throughout the day on Facebook and Twitter. Subscribe to our free daily newsletter for email updates.