‘OC Panty Thief’ sentenced to 8 years in prison

Arturo Galvan pleaded guilty to five counts of first-degree burglary and was sentenced to eight years in prison. Photo courtesy of Fullerton Police Department

Arturo Galvan, also known as the “Orange County Panty Thief,” has been sentenced to eight years in prison after burglarizing more than 30 homes — many of which housed Chapman students — in the Orange and Fullerton areas from May 2014 to December 2015.

Galvan, 44, pleaded guilty to five counts of first-degree burglary on Sept. 19, according to court records. The court dismissed the remaining 31 counts. If Galvan had been found guilty on all counts, he could have faced up to 50 years in state prison, the Orange County District Attorney wrote in a press release.

Originally arrested Dec. 3, 2015, Galvan was apprehended by the Fullerton Police Department after he was found peering through the window of a residence. Galvan had been using Instagram’s GPS data to target potential victims and determine their addresses, according to police.

Most of Galvan’s victims were female college students attending Chapman and California State University, Fullerton. He would typically steal women’s underwear and clothing, personal photos, planners, jewelry, laptops and tablets, according to the Orange County District Attorney’s Office. The Fullerton Police Department said that many of the items stolen had a “sexual component.”

Sydney Adams, a senior psychology major, lived in one of the homes that Galvan burglarized. Adams said that due to the incident, she no longer tags herself at any locations.

“It’s creepy that he targeted girls specifically, and that he found us through our public Instagram accounts. Since it came out that that’s how he was finding victims, I no longer geotag any of my posts,” Adams said.

Adams and her housemates realize now that there had been suspicious activity outside their house for weeks.

“When my housemates and I looked back on what happened, we realized our house was being watched for weeks before being broken into,” Adams said. “The same car would park across the street from our house every night and take note of when we were coming and going.”