Amid foreclosures, more thieves targeting abandoned rural homes for fixtures, appliances

Thieves in rural California have stripped a large, abandoned home of its appliances and fixtures, and authorities say they are seeing more rural homes suffer the same fate as foreclosures and abandonments increase, reports Joe Goldeen of The Stockton Record.

Goldeen describes the damage done to the 8,000-square foot Guzman house (in a Record photo by Craig Sanders) in Stockton, but the destruction is not isolated to this incident. "While abandoned rural homes have always appeared to attract attention from lawbreakers, Environmental Health's Alan Biedermann has seen a sharp increase in problem homes that are damaged like the Guzman house," Goldeen writes. "Many are way beyond repair and must be demolished, he said."

Biedermann told Goldeen that "stealing is more common," and that the county is dealing with five other damaged properties in the area around the Guzman house. Last week, Biedermann led 30 contractors on a tour of 32 homes scheduled for demolition, a sharp increase from last summer's tour of 17 such homes. (Read more)