Officers Don’t Have to Look Too Far for Suspect in Theft

A suspect in an attempted burglarly was in custody Thursday after authorities said they found him passed out in a Monarch Beach condominium with stereo equipment on a chair by the door “waiting to be stolen.”

Deputies were called to the beachfront enclave at 9:10 p.m. Wednesday after a guard at the private complex opened the gate for a resident and a pickup truck sped in behind, according to Sheriff’s Department spokesman Lt. Bob Rivas.

The Sheriff’s Department then received another call from neighbors who said they had heard glass being broken in one of the units, Rivas said. Deputies arrived there as a man was leaving.

“He yelled out that he lived there and that it was OK, and then ran back into the house,” Rivas said.

Officers entering the condominium through a broken den window said they found Scott Michael Gaffney, 25, of Dana Point “passed out on the bed. He got a few cuts from going through the broken window, but that was all,” Rivas said. Gaffney was being held in Orange County Jail in lieu of $25,000 bail.