VIDEO: Los Angeles father fights off burglar who stole more than $25,000

A California father was caught on video fighting off a burglar in his backyard who stole more than $25,000 worth of merchandise last Thursday. 

"I haven’t been able to sleep in days and with every little noise, I jump up to protect my family," said Daniel Lobell, who runs the “Modern Day Philosophers” podcast. 

"They stole my cameras. They stole my board. They stole my switcher. They stole my headphones. They stole my headphone amp, my memory cards," Lobell said, explaining that he broadcasts from a bus parked behind his home. 

On Thursday, Lobell noticed that the door to his bus was open and some of his gear was missing. He then notices the thief, who had returned to the crime scene two hours later to wipe off his fingerprints and delete any evidence that could link him to the crime.

"I’m looking down as I’m walking because I’m so upset, and I look up and there’s the guy, back two hours later cleaning his fingerprints off," Lobell said. "I said to him, ‘I’m going to kill you,’ and I went after him. I tried to grab the trampoline out of the plaything, to use it as a weapon, but I couldn’t get it out."  

The video shows that the burglar was able to avoid getting caught and leaves the premises. Lobell filed a police report and submitted the surveillance video of the incident, hoping that authorities will be able to catch the thief.

“One thing I keep reminding myself throughout this whole thing is that everything happens for a reason and God is good. And there’s something good that’s going to come out of this,” he said. 

“I don’t know what it is, but maybe what’ll come out of this is this will cause a stir and the police will prioritize this and they’ll get this guy and it’ll restore peace of mind to myself and my wife and we can sleep again at night. Maybe what else will come is that he won’t be able to do this to anyone else. Maybe it’ll raise awareness about these encampments,” he continued, adding that he believes the burglar is from an RV homeless encampment close to his house.  

The number of homeless encampments in L.A. County increased by 4.1% between 2020 and 2022, according to a study from the Los Angeles Services Authority.