CARLSBAD–Carlsbad police detectives Thursday are searching for an intruder who entered a house that was tented for termites.
The Carlsbad police department received a call, just after 6 a.m., from a homeowner about a residential burglary at his home in the 6300 block of Paseo Aspada between Paseo Corono and Carrillo way.
The homeowner related that his house was tented for termites and that part of the tenting process was the placing of cameras inside the house to detect an intruder. The camera system had alerted the homeowner to an intruder.
In less than a minute officers were dispatched to the location and arrived at 6:14 a.m.
A continued conversation with the homeowner revealed that the intruder may have been in the house for the about 40 minutes and that the security system had just awakened him. The last sighting of the intruder had been at around 5:50 a.m.
Officers quickly set up and secured the perimeter, and looked for an opening in the tenting that was used to access the house.
The officers contacted the termite company to discuss how to safely enter the house and the termite company responded to the scene to provide assistance.
At 7:33 a.m., the termite company deemed it safe to enter the house and the Sheriff’s department K-9 unit and officers entered the house. The intruder was not found.
Officers collected the camera surveillance footage from the house that showed a person inside the house wearing a white suit and respirator.
Before tenting, the homeowner followed excellent safety precautions and removed many valuables from the home. The loss at this time is unknown.
An investigation in to the incident is ongoing.
