El Segundo Burglary Investigation Leads to $6 Million in Stolen Gold and Luxury Goods

A residential burglary reported at $600,000 in El Segundo ballooned into a $6 million seizure when detectives traced the theft to a Temecula home and found what investigators described as a cache assembled by an organized crew targeting wealthy Southern California households.

The investigation began January 10, when El Segundo police responded to a break-in near California Street and East Sycamore Avenue. The resident reported that a man had entered the home and stolen designer handbags and jewelry. What followed was weeks of cross-agency work involving the San Diego Police Department and Glendale Police Department before detectives zeroed in on a residence in Temecula, in Riverside County.

On February 25, authorities executed a search warrant at that home and recovered not only the El Segundo victim's stolen property, but a far larger inventory of suspected stolen luxury goods. The total value exceeded $6 million.

The recovered items read like a catalog from the secondary market's most coveted shelves. Officers found more than 100 designer handbags, including, according to a post from AV News Crew on Facebook, 39 Hermès Birkin bags alongside pieces from Louis Vuitton and Chanel. Twenty-two high-end timepieces were seized, with brands confirmed across multiple outlets as Patek Philippe, Audemars Piguet, and Rolex. Also recovered were gold coins, jewelry, 20 firearms, and more than $800,000 in cash. Collectible sports trading cards and memorabilia were found at the property as well, according to the Facebook post.

Following the operation, authorities arrested two men. AV News Crew on Facebook identified them as Jonathan Calkins, 42, and Christopher Welker, 51, though mainstream outlets including the Los Angeles Times reported only that a suspect was taken into custody without naming either man. El Segundo police have not publicly confirmed both names in an official release, and that discrepancy has not been resolved. Both men face charges of residential burglary and possession of stolen property; Welker, described in the Facebook post as a convicted felon, faces an additional charge of felon in possession of a firearm.

Investigators believe the suspects operated as part of an organized burglary crew that singled out high-net-worth individuals across the region. Detectives also believe victims may have been selected after publicly posting photographs of their luxury belongings on social media, a pattern that has surfaced in other Southern California theft investigations.

Police have not yet identified the owners of the majority of the seized property. Beyond the initial El Segundo resident, the possessors of most of the Birkins, watches, gold, and cash remain unknown. Detectives are actively pursuing leads to connect the recovered inventory to other unsolved residential burglaries in Los Angeles and San Diego counties.

Anyone who believes their property may be among the recovered items, or who has information about the case, can contact Detective Michael Keltner of the El Segundo Police Department at 310-524-2263 or mkeltner@elsegundo.org.