Hanford home ransacked while under fumigation tent

HANFORD, Calif. (KFSN) -- A Hanford woman says thieves ransacked her home while it was under a tent for fumigation and stole priceless family heirlooms. A pest control service discovered evidence of the break-in on Saturday, but the tent went up on Thursday.

The homeowner talked with Action News but she didn't want to be identified, "just a total disaster, it actually looks like a war zone," she said, "every closet, every drawer, emptied... many, many sentimental things."

The victim says all the sentimental things are missing -- jewelry passed down through generations, family heirlooms, her mother's charm bracelet, and a safe full of unopened letters to her granddaughter. She says burglars stole all of it while her home was being fumigated for termites. "It's very disappointing that someone would come in and take the things you had saved because they meant something."

Her home was under a tent for 3 days. She didn't set the alarm but says the pest control service had used special locks to keep people out, at least that's what she thought.

Hanford Police Chief Parker Sever says the burglars slashed a hole in the tent with a knife and broke in through a doggy door. After that, they ransacked the home from the basement to the master bedroom - all while there were hazardous chemicals inside. Chief Sever said, "it's dangerous in there with those noxious chemicals and you can probably do a lot of damage to yourself by doing that."

As for the homeowner, she's cleaning up the mess the thieves left behind and hoping they'll have a change of heart. "I hope that not only some of the stuff re-appears but I hope whoever did it, reconsiders what they've done and they think about how they would want their own parents or grandparents to be treated," the woman said.