A man shown in a pair of “selfies” distributed by the Sheriff’s Department in connection with a Santa Clarita home burglary said he had nothing to do with the crime and just wants to put the attention behind him, he said Thursday.
The photos, which were sent out by authorities on Wednesday, do not depict burglars, Larry Beltran Jr. said.
“I just want to get it over with, get all this cleared away,” Beltran said.
His name was cleared, Beltran said, and he was allowed to leave the Sheriff’s Station after speaking with investigators.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department announced Wednesday afternoon that detectives wanted to speak to the man and woman shown in the photos, which appeared on a burglary victim’s cloud photo account after electronics were among the items stolen when her home was burglarized and ransacked July 30.
The couple were called “persons of interest” by the Sheriff’s Department, but were not described as suspects in the burglary. The Sheriff’s Department asked for the public’s help identifying the couple, and the photos were covered by local news outlets, including KTLA.
On Thursday, at the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station, Beltran said his aunt had bought two iPhones for $80 at a swap meet. Photos taken with at least one of the phones apparently resulted in the automatic upload of those images to the burglary victim’s account.
Beltran and his aunt arrived at the station just before noon Thursday to talk to detectives.
“It’s like we did something wrong. We didn’t. Well, he didn’t,” aunt Angie Cabrera said. “All I did was just buy the phones. … I just want my nephew’s name cleared.”
Beltran was speaking with investigators about the case, department spokesman Deputy Josh Dubin confirmed.
“We’re grateful for the cooperation of that male talking to the detectives right now,” Dubin said.
“We appreciate the public and media attention gained through sharing information about the persons of interest,” a Sheriff’s Department news release stated Thursday. “The female person of interest was also identified with the public’s help.”
Investigators needed to speak with the woman in the photos to clear up any remaining connections to the case, according to Dubin.
On Wednesday night, on KTLA’s Facebook page, a woman wrote that the photo showed her but said she had not stolen a phone.
KTLA’s Scott Williams contributed to this article.
