strip mall

Security footage captured inside a strip mall showed three male suspects casing a Simi Valley jewelry store days before it was burglarized last month for more than $3 million in jewelry and other valuables.

Matthew Naval was arrested on April 13 after authorities say they found him with the missing girl and her pet bird in an Elk Grove strip mall, over 250 miles from her Kern County home.

Across the city, there are dozens of Korean spas, Russian Jewish banyas and even natural hot springs hiding inside nondescript buildings and strip malls.

Elk Grove police assisted Kern County officials and were able to find Naval in his car at a strip mall near his home with the missing child.

Thomas did not commit the thefts himself, but worked with numerous converter thieves whom he would meet in strip malls and motel parking lots to purchase the stolen goods, prosecutors said.