Ex-Universal Employee Charged in Burglaries

A former janitorial supervisor for the Universal Studios Tour has been charged with 11 counts of burglary in connection with a two-year rash of automobile burglaries in the parking lot of the Universal City-based entertainment park, a Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department spokesman said Wednesday.

The supervisor, Steve F. Ward, 51, of Palmdale, was charged Tuesday after an investigation that began Sept. 1, when he was arrested in the parking lot while trying to break into a car, Deputy Steve Fosselman said.

Although Ward was only charged with 11 burglaries, sheriff’s investigators now believe he may be responsible for as many as 185 car burglaries since 1983, in which property worth more than $200,000 was stolen, Fosselman said.

The investigation was complicated by the fact that many of the burglarized cars were from other states, Fosselman said.

All burglaries occurred during the day, leading investigators to speculate that Ward, who worked the night shift, broke into the cars shortly after getting off work in the morning, he said.

After his arrest, investigators served a search warrant on Ward’s home, where they found more than 1,400 items linking him with the thefts, Fosselman said. The items were not identified.

Ward is being held in lieu of $50,000 at Los Angeles County Jail.