Suspected Robbery Spree Duo Caught with James Bond-Style Car Gadgets

A James Bond-style license plate-flipping device found on a Mercedes-Benz in Irvine led to the arrests of two people in connection to area burglaries, police said Wednesday.

As KTLA reports, police first got a call about the car from a resident who recognized the “suspicious” vehicle as possibly being involved in previous burglaries, the Irvine Police Department said.

After locating and stopping the vehicle in the area of Harvard Avenue and Main Street, cops discovered the handy device, which can flip the vehicle’s license plate with the push of a button. Additionally, the car had an elaborate gas siphoning device that transferred fuel directly into the vehicle’s gas tank, according to the department.

“The suspect vehicle was something out of 007 movie,” police said on Instagram.

Inside the car, officers found burglary tools, evidence of ID theft, and stolen property—and that the vehicle itself had been stolen from Irvine, according to KTLA.

Unlike Bond, Garden Grove’s Yasmine Kambour, 37, and Chris Huynh, 44, were arrested on suspicion of vehicle burglary, vehicle theft, identity theft, possession of stolen property and possession of burglary tools.

Kambour is being held on $95,100 bail and is scheduled to appear in court on Friday. Huynh is being held on $50,000 bail, according to county inmate records.

Also not quite up to par with 007’s fully-immersible Lotus Esprit or the twin-mounted .30 caliber machine-guns of his Aston Martin DB5 (which famously did have spinning plates), the alleged spy gear in this case appears to be readily available and will run you about $130.

Meanwhile, old-fashioned local degenerates remained hard at work this week.

At around 3:40 a.m. on Wednesday, three to four people forced their way into a home in the 22900 block of Betty Road in Perris and assaulted a victim inside before leaving the scene with stolen items, Riverside County Sheriff’s Department Sgt. Brandi Swan told KTLA.

Authorities are also searching for a pair of home-invasion robbers who broke into a residence at around 1:30 a.m. Thursday morning at a home in the 23900 block of Sunset Crossing in Diamond Bar, leaving a resident injured, a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department spokesperson confirmed to the station.

Two intruders, described as males, entered the home and got into an altercation with the homeowner, the spokesperson said. The homeowner suffered minor injuries during the altercation. The intruders reportedly got away with $3,000 in cash.

On Tuesday, smash-and-grab robbers in El Monte destroyed display cases and attacked employees with hammers at around 1:15 in the afternoon at David’s Jewelers in the 10900 block of Main Street before fleeing in a Chevrolet Avalanche. They were last seen on the westbound 10 Freeway, Lt. Knight of the El Monte Police Department told KTLA.

Jose Nava, the owner of David’s Jewelers, put the value of the stolen merchandise at $956,000. Lt. Knight did not confirm that figure but said the amount was significant.

At about 2:11 a.m. on Sunday, a gang of five follow-home robbers attacked a man in the 800 block of South Hope Street as he returned to an apartment complex from a restaurant in Hollywood, police said in a press release.

There was gunplay during the attack “resulting in the victim sustaining multiple gunshot wounds” before the suspects fled in a white sedan, possibly a Nissan Sentra, KTLA reports. Although the victim was taken to a local hospital where he was listed in stable condition, one of the suspects also showed up at an area hospital with gunshot wounds, where he was arrested.

That suspect, Justin Alphonso Sanchez, was charged with robbery and assault with a deadly weapon on Tuesday, and he remains in custody without bail, police told KTLA.

The other four suspects remain and at large and are considered armed and dangerous.

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