'Selfless Marine' Puts Neighbors First In Lake Forest: Local Hero

LAKE FOREST, CA —When times are tough, heroes emerge. We all know someone who's making a difference right now as we live through unprecedented and changing times. In Lake Forest, that looks like neighbors helping neighbors in times of need.

Here at Patch, we've launched an initiative to help recognize these heroes making a difference in their communities. Together with Ring, we're working to let all your neighbors know about these outstanding people and their stories.

This submission comes from Mike Padgett, who nominated Anthony Barazza of Lake Forest. Padgett is a neighbor to Barazza, a former Sgt. in the Marines, now actively involved in neighborhood watch.

With a Ring installed and set to alert his phone, Barazza frequently keeps an eye on their street, often in the middle of the night.

"Anthony has, on a number of occasions, helped catch a few different thieves in our neighborhood," Padgett tells Patch. "Whether it was calling the police at the onset, or coordinating with people and services after the fact, or confronting the thieves and scaring them off."

According to Barazza, many veterans live in their area, and they all look out for each other.

Barazza is a self-described "light sleeper." When his alert went off in the night, recently, he left his bed with his flashlight to investigate.

Seeing a car outside, near his neighbor's house, he witnessed a suspect in all black "toss a bag into his car and drive away," he told Patch. The suspect rifled through Padgett's car and removed a bag of valuables from inside.

"Someone had taken belt buckles that belonged to Mike's dad from the car, irreplaceable heirlooms." When authorities arrived, Barazza told officers what he knew, and then followed up in the area he'd seen the suspect drive.

There, he saw officers with the suspect on the curb and described the missing items to deputies.

"Mike got all of his father's belt buckles back," Barazza tells Patch. That act of kindness was meaningful to Padgett, who describes his neighbor as a "selfless" former Marine, who "has people's safety and best interest at heart."

That's what makes him a local hero.

Padgett and their other neighbors tip their collective cap to Barazza, and thank him for taking an active part in keeping their corner of the globe a safe place to live.

>> Do YOU have a local hero you would like us to know about? Share their story here. Read about other heroes from across California here.