Two enterprising California residents allegedly turned a hangar at an abandoned military air base into a secret hideout for stashing stolen goods — and making music.
The Irvine Police Department said officers discovered the remarkable setup on the grounds of the former Marine Corps Air Station El Toro while investigating "trespassing activity" there.
Joshua Micheal Rosario, 29, and Patricia Lynn Ratliff, 53, both of Anaheim, were allegedly found inside the makeshift living space, which was furnished with a couch, a TV and "what appeared to be a recording studio, complete with disco lights and a fog machine," police said on social media Sunday.
Rosaro and Ratliff allegedly used car batteries to power the electrical equipment.
The Friday search also turned up unspecified "personal property from Irvine residents," as well as 11 bicycles, numerous spools of copper wire, two airsoft rifles, an illegal M-800 firework and drug paraphernalia, police said.
Rosario and Ratliff have been repeatedly cited or arrested for trespassing in the building on the grounds of El Toro, which was closed in July 1999 after figuring in the plot of the hit 1996 sci-fi movie "Independence Day," in which it was destroyed by aliens.
Rosario was arrested on open warrants and new charges that include burglary and drug possession, and Ratliff was arrested on warrants and also charged with trespassing, police said.
