Residents are on high alert after a group of burglars targeted homes in the Santa Clarita Valley.

In the last week alone, at least three homes inside a gated community in Valencia were burglarized. 

Neighbors believe their community is being targeted by a South American crime ring and the suspects may even be tracking their every move with drone surveillance.

“A few days ago, we noticed that there were drones flying above our house,” a resident, who did not wish to be identified, told KTLA’s Ellina Abovian.

Surveillance cameras captured the burglars’ images as they trespassed onto victims’ properties and smashed their way into homes.

“It appears they’re using sophisticated technology to surveil the home to see who’s home and who’s not,” the resident said.

Some neighbors decided to follow the drones which led them to a nearby parking lot outside a La Quinta Inn where a group of men were spotted. The men reportedly fit the description of the burglars seen in victims’ surveillance images. 

“There’s five of them who were hanging out together and as soon as they noticed that they were being watched, they all took off and ran in different directions,” the resident said.

The victims suspect the burglars are part of a crime tourism burglary ring from South America. 

Crime tourism often involves foreign nationals who visit the U.S. with the sole purpose of committing theft. 

Recently, an uptick in crime tourism has been reported across the Southland and beyond. The homes of Kansas City Chiefs stars Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce were burglarized in October by what investigators believed was a South American crime ring.

“It’s frustrating,” Mahomes said of the break-ins during a recent press conference. “It’s disappointing.”

In August, six people in Southern California were arrested in connection to a tourism burglary ring after a Van Nuys car rental business was reportedly facilitating the illicit deeds.

For now, residents in the Valencia community remain frustrated as they’re forced to be on high alert. Some have even hired security patrols to protect their properties while also keeping an eye on their neighbors’ homes.

“There have been extra patrols, but it’s just very hard to get anything done with the current crime sprees happening in California,” the resident said.

Authorities are aware of the incidents and are investigating the burglaries, but so far, no arrests have been made.

A Chinese man living in Los Angeles was sentenced to almost two years in federal prison for his role in trying to bribe an IRS official at the behest of the Chinese government.

Earlier this year, John Chen, 71, admitted that he served as an unregistered agent of the Chinese government and tried to bribe who he thought was an IRS agent to revoke the tax-exempt status of Falun Gong, a U.S.-based new religious movement. The scheme was first reported by Seamus Hughes’ Court Watch.

Falun Gong, perhaps best known for the Shen Yun dance performances and news outlet The Epoch Times, opposes the Chinese Communist Party’s control of the country.

Alongside co-conspirator Lin Feng, 44, Chen “worked inside the United States at the direction of the [People’s Republic of China] government … to further the PRC government’s campaign to repress and harass Falun Gong practitioners,” the U.S. Department of Justice said in a news release.

Using multiple payments of several thousand dollars each and promising at least $50,000 if an audit were opened, Chen and Feng worked with government officials from the People’s Republic of China to “carry out the PRC government’s aim of ‘toppl[ing] . . . the Falun Gong,’” prosecutors wrote.

As a result, Chen was sentenced to 20 months in prison and three years of supervised release, and he’ll forfeit $50,000 as well.

Feng was sentenced in September to a time-served sentence of 16 months in prison.

Each faced a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison.

An investigation is underway after a smoke and vape shop in San Bernardino County was allegedly vandalized by six people, including two very young juveniles.

Deputies with the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Office responded to reports of the vandalism at My Generation Smoke & Vape at 14666 7th Street in Victorville at around 7 p.m., officials confirmed to KTLA.  

The shop’s manager, Hasan Zaqqa, explained that an adult female entered the shop to purchase some products before asking for free merchandise.  

Zaqqa said that when the shop’s employees said they couldn’t give away any items for free, the woman exited the store, went to her car and reportedly told around five other people to enter the shop and confront store employees.  

Security cameras captured much of the incident, including at least two children, getting out of the car, entering the store and confronting the employees. As the group was leaving, several of them pushed over display cases on the counter, while another one grabbed an item from the store and threw it.  

That’s when Zaqqa said he grabbed a stick, ran out of the store and tried to get them to leave.  

It appears from security footage that he was swinging the stick at the vandals’ vehicle as it drove forward and then came to another stop as everyone exited the car and headed back to the shop’s entrance where Zaqqa and another employee were seen inside.  

At that point, the woman, as well as the man who had been driving the vehicle, attempted to confront the store’s employees and ultimately began smashing the shop’s doors and windows.  

The suspects fled the area before deputies arrived and remain outstanding.  

The relationship between the group of people who entered and allegedly vandalized the store is unknown at this time.