Montecito is at risk of more gang-orchestrated burglaries, police have warned (Image: Getty)
Prince Harry and ‘s wealthy LA neighbourhood is being targeted by organised crime gangs, police have warned – urging residents to take extra safety precautions.
The couple have lived in a multi-million-pound mansion in the affluent town of for five years with their two children, Prince Archie, five, and Princess Lilibet, three.
The district is populated by a number of other famous names including Oprah Winfrey, Katy Perry and Orlando Bloom and – making it perhaps no surprise that it has become a target for organised robbery.
A proliferation of criminal gangs from South America has spurred local authorities to urge residents to take extra precautions to protect their homes, however, warning that the thieves posed a particular risk to “affluent celebrities and athletes” in the area.
Special Crime Division Detective Anthony Nunez laid out the scale of the problem during a crime presentation at the February 2025 meeting of the Montecito Association, local newspaper the Montecito Journal reported.
: [REPORT]
The wealthy neighbourhood is home to a number of famous faces (Image: Getty)
The gangs, hailing from countries including Chile and Venezuela, generally consisted of three or four men and women working in coordination to carry out premeditated burglaries, Mr Nunez said.
He added: “They conduct surveillance prior to the robbery to figure out your pattern of being at home and being away. [Then] they place cameras on the properties they are targeting.
“They are highly skilled and are in and out in three minutes, targeting primary bedrooms’ safe boxes and jewellery. They use signal jammers to stop your alarms, cell phones and home video surveillance [and] sell the stolen items back in their country of origin.”
The detective said three special ‘Flock’ cameras had been installed in Montecito in an attempt to catch the criminals, but warned that while things “quietened down for a few weeks” after an arrest, the criminals had a pattern of being back in action shortly afterwards.
Don’t miss… [REPORT] [REPORT]
He said Montecito locals should “get to know [their] neighbours and have them call the Sheriff’s office if they notice anything suspicious”.
Mr Nunez added that residents should install surveillance cameras and motion sensor lights on their properties and leave the lights or TV on when they’re not at home – and agreed that a Neighbourhood Watch scheme would be an effective deterrent for the star-studded area.
It could be a motivation for Harry and Meghan to embed themselves more firmly in their local area – with reports suggesting the couple had “isolated themselves” since moving over from the UK in 2020.
However, they made a wider show of solidarity after parts of Los Angeles were ravaged by destructive wildfires at the start of the year – donating children’s clothing and toys alongside other essential supplies and opening their home to loved ones.
The couple moved to California in 2020 (Image: Getty)
The warning about increased crime in Montecito comes as Meghan prepares to launch her new venture, the cooking show With Love, Meghan, on next week.
The series will reportedly “reimagine the genre of lifestyle programming” and see the duchess and her guests “roll up their sleeves in the kitchen, the garden and beyond”.
The eight-part programme wasn’t filmed in Harry and Meghan’s $14 million mansion, but reportedly around two miles away at the sprawling home of philanthropists Tom and Sherrie Cipolla, in a bid for the Sussex’s home life to retain a veneer of privacy.
It will mark the latest product of the couple’s multi-year deal with , reported to be worth around $100 million, which they signed after stepping back from royal duties in 2020.