STORE BURGLARY PLOT GOES UP IN SMOKE LINK TO OTHER CIGARETTE THEFTS IS PROBED.

Byline: CHARLES F. BOSTWICK Staff Writer

PALMDALE -- Four burglary suspects from the San Fernando Valley and Los Angeles were arrested at a tobacco shop where deputies said they cut a hole into the roof.

Detectives are looking into whether the four are connected to other cigarette thefts, which are often committed by organized theft rings that sell the cigarettes to other shops for resale or on the street.

``We have nothing to link them to anything, but we are certainly investigating whether this has been done before,'' Palmdale sheriff's station spokesman Deputy Dave Jennings said.

Deputies were sent to the Cigs and Cigars store in the Amargosa Commons shopping center on 10th Street West about 1 a.m. Friday in answer to a burglary alarm. Employees of the company that monitors the alarm system told deputies they could hear intruders moving around in the store.

Deputies surrounded the store and caught two young men coming out and another young man and a young woman at a car in the shopping center parking lot.

The intruders had gloves, prybars, boltcutters and headset lights, Jennings said. The intruders had pried open a door to reach a ladder to the roof, then cut a hole in the roof, he said.

Arrested on suspicion of burglary were Gevork Galtadjian, 19, of Winnetka; Gayk Tatevosyan, 21, of Glendale; Artak Nadarian, 21, of Los Angeles; and Alla Rayeva, 19, of Studio City. Each was being held in lieu of $20,000 bail.

A national retailers associations say cigarettes have become increasingly attractive to thieves as stores limit the cash they have on hand and cigarette taxes and rising prices make a carton more valuable -- up to $50 for 10 packs of cigarettes.

The Association for Convenience and Petroleum Retailing says cigarette theft is most often based in areas where organized theft groups have a foothold. Organized theft rings target merchandise like cigarettes, batteries and even baby formula that have a high resale value and constant demand.

Cigarettes can be easily resold, are easily transportable and are in constant demand, the association says.

In 2004, Los Angeles police announced they arrested five members of an organized crime ring believed responsible for stealing millions of dollars worth of cigarettes in the San Fernando Valley and Los Angeles Harbor areas. The ring's members punched holes in roofs of cigarette retailers and wholesale warehouses, police said.

``It goes in cycles,'' Jennings said of Antelope Valley cigarette thefts. ``It depends on if a crew is working up here. They're not always from the area; they are just looking for easy pickings.''