LOS ANGELES, Calif. – In a bizarre incident that was partially captured on surveillance video, a man who broke into a home business in Los Angeles stopped to watch pornography on a computer inside, the family told KTLA on Tuesday.
The intruder apparently slipped into the hair extension business through a vent Monday night, said Lisa and Steve Mirizzi, who own the business and live in an apartment upstairs.
“Last night, I came downstairs to make some tea and I saw him at the computer sitting, watching porn,” Lisa Mirizzi recalled.
She immediately screamed, and her son and husband came rushing down the stairs. Steve Mirizzi said he and their son came running toward the man from different directions, chasing him down.
The man tried escaping through one door, but soon realized he couldn’t – the door had a padlock on it. Moments later, as he attempted again to flee, the couple’s son managed to stop the man.
Giovanni Mirizzi told KTLA that he “decked him, picked him up and body-slammed him.”
Surveillance footage taken in the business showed the man apparently smoking, stealing some cash and even charging his phone at one point.
“It almost felt like a dream because it’s like, ‘Is this really happening?'” Lisa Mirizzi said.
Police were called to the scene and the man was taken into custody, they said.
The man was identified as Alan Estrada, a 28-year-old man whom the Los Angeles Police Department described as a transient, the L.A. Daily News reported. He was booked into Van Nuys Jail about 1:30 a.m. Tuesday and was being held without bail.
The family said their stolen cash and credit cards have been returned, making the whole situation easier to look back on.
“We could laugh about it,” Steve Mirizzi said, chuckling.