#California deputy allegedly burglarized dead man’s home

A California sheriff’s deputy is accused of repeatedly breaking into a dead’s man home and stealing items, including weapon safes and ceiling fans, authorities said.

Steve Hortz, a 12-year veteran of the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, was arrested Thursday on suspicion of burglary and was placed on administrative leave, Sheriff Don Barnes said.

Security video from the Yorba Linda residence where Hortz responded on July 20 for a man in his 70s who died from natural causes shows him returning to the home a week later while in uniform, Barnes said.

Hortz broke into the unoccupied home through a rear door and left a short time later, although it’s unclear if a theft occurred during that visit, Barnes said.

The deputy later returned while wearing civilian clothes on two occasions, Aug. 10 and 16, during which he stole several of the dead man’s possessions, including weapon safes, ceiling fans and cases containing other unknown items, according to the sheriff’s department.

An attorney representing the deceased man’s estate alerted sheriff officials Wednesday that several items were missing from the home – and provided investigators with surveillance footage showing Hortz there at least three separate times, Barnes said.

“The suspected criminal actions of this deputy are a violation of public trust, are inexcusable and intolerable,” Barnes said in a statement. “This deputy will be held accountable through a swift and thorough process including a full criminal and internal administrative investigation.”

Barnes said during a press conference Thursday that investigators are now looking into prior calls handled by Hortz, KTLA reports.

“I will do everything we can to make sure he does not return to a uniform in this organization or anywhere else for that matter,” Barnes said. “He’s embarrassed this profession, he’s embarrassed this organization and he’s embarrassed the almost 4,000 members who do good work every day.”

The accusations against Hortz came just one day after another Orange County Sheriff’s deputy, Angelina Cortez, 41, was charged with filing a false police report for allegedly stealing a suspect’s credit card in 2018 and then giving it to her son instead of filing it as evidence.