Arrests Made in Storage Unit Burglary NR23206rc

Los Angeles: The Los Angeles Police Department’s Harbor Area burglary detectives have arrested 35-year-old Bryant Alberto Escalante, 38-year-old Steven Russell Janossy, 38-year-old Joshua Lee Beebe, and 39-year-old Martha Calderon in connection with a series of storage burglaries where the property loss was in excess of one-million dollars in high-end shoes and vintage comic books.

In April 2023, detectives became aware of a commercial burglary of a storage unit containing designer shoes, worth approximately one million dollars.

Detectives received a lead on a person of interest, Bryant Escalante. Additional evidence led detectives to stolen vintage comic books, which were stolen from the same storage unit in January 2023. Investigators observed that several stolen items were being sold by Escalante on popular mobile-driven local marketplaces on the internet.

On July 13, 2023, around 12:00 p.m., LAPD Harbor Area personnel in conjunction with LAPD Operations-South Bureau Violent Crime Task Force (VCTF) served a search warrant at the suspects residences in the 2500 block of Marine Avenue, in the city of Lawndale, as well as two storage units where stolen merchandise was housed, which resulted in the arrest of all four suspects and the recovery of a substantial amount of designer shoes and the majority of stolen comic books.

Escalante has been engaged in criminal activity for the past several years and was arrested in 2020 for the burglary of the same storage unit in Harbor Division. The suspect mainly targets high value items from storage unit and sells the items on popular internet auction sites.

STEVEN JANOSSY: Booking Number: 6640857, 2 counts Commercial Burglary – 459 PC – Bail: $250,000

BRYANT ESCALANTE: Booking Number: 6640901, 2 counts Commercial Burglary – 459 PC – Bail: $250,000

JOSHUA BEEBE: Booking Number: 6640879, 1 count Commercial Burglary – 459 PC – Bail: $300,000

MARTHA CALDERON: Booking Number: 6640890, 1 count Receiving Stolen Property and on probation for 459 PC – 496 PC – BAIL: $400,000

The investigation is ongoing and Harbor detectives are seeking additional leads to the whereabouts of victim’s stolen property, sold by the suspects on various auction websites.

Anyone with information regarding this case is urged to call Harbor Area detectives at 310-726-7900. During non-business hours or on weekends, calls should be directed to 1-877-LAPD-24-7 (877-527-3247). Anyone wishing to remain anonymous should call the LA Regional Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (800-222-8477) or go directly to www.lacrimestoppers.org. Lastly, tipsters may also download the “P3 Tips” mobile application and select the LA Regional Crime Stoppers as their local program