UPDATE: Suspect tied to Poway home invasion, vandalism arrested

POWAY, Calif. — Authorities are asking residents of a Poway neighborhood to come forward with any surveillance footage for an investigation into a string of suspicious incidents that took place in the area early Thursday.

Video from inside resident Dan Jestand’s house shows an unknown man wandering around inside his home on Somerset Road. He is seen walking both inside and outside the property between 2 a.m. and 5 a.m. The man filled several bags with soccer gear before exiting.

At least three cars were vandalized in the neighborhood and another was broken into, neighbors say.

“(Jestand) said it just didn’t make sense,” neighbor Nate Knudson said. “It was like they didn’t know what they were looking for and they left expensive stuff sitting on the table right next to the stuff they took.”

Knudson spoke with the burglary victims and was one of the first to spot more destruction along Somerset Road. Several cars were also spray-painted with vulgar language.

“I let (one of the victims) know. She couldn’t believe it,” Knudson said. “Just awful language on it and she had to go to work with that on her car because she didn’t even know.”

Karla Hamlin’s daughter also had her vehicle vandalized.

“I thought maybe it was targeted toward my daughter,” Hamlin said. “I thought maybe it was like a TikTok challenge, but as soon as we heard that it was happening somewhere else, there’s definitely something going on.”

It’s unclear if the one person caught on camera is responsible for all the damage. But the community is calling for some changes in the wake of the overnight incidents.

“Our local leaders keep telling us that there’s not a crime problem in Poway, but on community pages and social media, people are saying this is happening,” Knudson said. “Our homes are being vandalized, our kids aren’t safe. We have to lock up at night.”

Anyone with information on the incidents can contact Crime Stoppers at 888-580-8477.