(KTLA) – Surveillance footage captured the moment a father fought off a burglar at his home, but only after the thief made off with thousands of dollars in recording equipment.
Video of the burglary shows the thief, his face covered, wiping his fingerprints off Daniel Lobell’s school-bus-turned-mobile-recording-studio. Lobell, a comedian, owns the bus, which he parks behind his home in Los Angeles.
The bus is Lobell's office, where he records his popular podcast “Modern Day Philosophers,” a show that features comics talking about philosophy. The mobile recording studio, which he also uses for other productions, is his livelihood, he said.
“I worked my a-- off to build this business so that I could stand on my own two feet and do something, a business that I know I'm good at, that I know I can help other people with,” Lobell said.
On May 4, the alleged thief climbed a wall into Lobell's yard and broke into the bus. Video shows a man carrying away bags of Lobell’s equipment.
“They stole my cameras. They stole my board. They stole my switcher. They stole my headphones. They stole my headphone amp, my memory cards … approximately about $25,000 of equipment,” the comedian said.
Lobell said he became aware of the theft after the burglar had already left. But several hours later, after assessing everything that had been stolen, the burglar returned to his backyard.
“I’m looking down as I’m walking because I'm so upset, and I look up and there’s the guy, back two hours later, cleaning his fingerprints off,” Lobell said. “I said to him, ‘I’m going to kill you,’ and I went after him. I tried to grab the trampoline out of the play thing, to use it as a weapon, but I couldn’t get it out.”
-
Daniel Lobell, seen here, is the owner of the Podcast Bus, a mobile recording studio. (Daniel Lobell) -
Daniel Lobell, seen here, is the owner of the Podcast Bus, a mobile recording studio. (Daniel Lobell) -
Burglar captured on surveillance video stealing bags of recording equipment from Daniel Lobell's mobile recording studio May 4, 2023. (Daniel Lobell) -
Daniel Lobell seen here fighting off a burglar in his backyard May 4, 2023. (Daniel Lobell) -
Mobile recording studio seen here own by Daniel Lobell, which was burglarized on May 4, 2023. (Daniel Lobell) -
Mobile recording studio seen here own by Daniel Lobell, which was burglarized on May 4, 2023. (Daniel Lobell)
Despite the financial hardship, the comedian said he’s just glad that his family wasn’t harmed.
“One thing I keep reminding myself throughout this whole thing is that everything happens for a reason and God is good. And there’s something good that’s going to come out of this,” he said. “I don’t know what it is, but maybe what’ll come out of this is [that it] will cause a stir, and the police will prioritize this, and they’ll get this guy, and it'll restore peace of mind to myself and my wife and we can sleep again at night. Maybe what else will come is that he won’t be able to do this to anyone else.”
Lobell filed a police report and turned the surveillance video over to authorities in hopes of catching the crook. In the meantime, the comedian started a GoFundMe campaign so that he can rebuild the mobile recording studio and get back to work.
0 Comments