A brazen band of thieves made up of 11 young men have been charged with stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars in cars, jewelry and electronics from dozens of San Fernando Valley residents over the last two months, police said today.

The suspects, ages 17 to 20, have been charged with six felony counts of burglary after they broke into homes and cars and took whatever looked valuable, LAPD Detective Thomas Barnhart said.

"If they found car keys and your car was there they would steal your car," he said. "If your car was not there, they would come back several days later and steal your car." That happened in at least one case. In mid-October, the thieves broke into a Van Nuys woman's car while she was out working or shopping and found her address on her auto registration, Barnhart said. Later that day, they broke into her home and took two sets of car keys, but the cars weren't there.

So they returned four days later and stole both vehicles. Police pulled over one of the stolen cars a couple days later in the West Valley and questioned the two minors inside, leading Barnhart and his Community Effort to Combat Auto Theft team to the auto theft ring.

The team made its first four arrests on Halloween night and several more in the following weeks. The suspects include: Rami Barnieh, 18; Esteban Solorio-Araya, 18; Michael Landix, 19; and Reza Jabarzade, 20. The rest were not named because they are under 18. The group did not appear to be involved in drugs or gangs - common motivations for such crime sprees, Barnhart said. The detective added that he is continuing the investigation and more arrests and charges could follow.

To find other victims, Los Angeles police detectives will display some of the unclaimed stolen property Dec. 3 from 3-8 p.m. at the West Valley Division, 19020 Vanowen Street in Reseda.

Anyone with questions can call West Valley detectives at 818-374-7730 or CECAT at 818-644-8091.