Palo Alto officers have arrested two men in connection with an overnight burglary that occurred Saturday a local coin shop, the Police Department said in a news release.
Officers interrupted the alleged burglars, who police said stole an undisclosed amount of counts and currency on July 21 from The Coin Broker, a store located at 855 El Camino Real in the Town and Country Shopping Center. The department's 24-hour dispatch center received a call reporting an activated silent alarm at about 2:36 a.m. Saturday.
Arriving officers saw a number of male subjects standing in front of the business, police said. They fled as soon as they saw officers. Patrol officers in their vehicles were able to quickly block two suspects from escaping. Both were taken into custody without incident, according to police.
An officer tried to stop a black Kia Soul leaving the parking lot at the same time, but it fled at a high rate of speed. Police did not pursue the car, they said. The car's occupants were seen throwing coins out of the window as they fled, police said.
Police were able to recover hundreds of coins that had been discarded along Embarcadero Road toward U.S. Highway 101. Officers entering the business found it had been ransacked.
Police said four male suspects entered the store by prying open the front door. All four were wearing dark-colored clothing, including hooded sweatshirts with the hoods up, and gloves.
Police arrested a 25-year-old Los Angeles resident and a 20-year-old resident of Cypress for commercial burglary and conspiracy, both felonies. The 20-year-old man was also arrested for committing a felony while out on bail for a different felony. Police booked both suspects into the Santa Clara County Main Jail.
The two other men police are seeking are both adult males. One is black and the other man's race is unknown, police said. Detectives are working to identify and apprehend the men.
Anyone with information about this incident is asked to call the Palo Alto Police Department's 24-hour dispatch center at 650-329-2413. Anonymous tips can be e-mailed to [email protected] or sent by text message or voicemail to 650-383-8984. Tips can also be submitted anonymously through the free mobile app, downloadable at bit.ly/PAPD-AppStore or bit.ly/PAPD-GooglePlay.
This is the second arrest for burglary that police have made this week. On July 22, officers arrested a Palo Alto teen for allegedly entering an occupied home.
Editor's note: The Weekly's policy is to withhold the names of those arrested for most crimes until the District Attorney has determined there is sufficient evidence to file charges in the case. See our guidelines here.
Comments
Mountain View
on Jul 27, 2018 at 8:16 am
on Jul 27, 2018 at 8:16 am
"tried to stop a black Kia Soul leaving..."
I am so fed up with the racial profiling of cars! If it were a white car I doubt the Police would have looked twice.
#BlackCarsMatter!
Old Palo Alto
on Jul 27, 2018 at 8:53 am
on Jul 27, 2018 at 8:53 am
Why do these crooks come from so far away to steal from Palo Alto businesses? The thieves in this account were from the LA area and the women stealing from Stanford Shopping Center came from Antioch.
At $4.00 a gallon for gas along with the drive time, wouldn't it be far more practical as well as expeditious if they simply stole from their own neighborhoods?
These people must not be very intelligent.
Registered user
Midtown
on Jul 27, 2018 at 10:45 am
Registered user
on Jul 27, 2018 at 10:45 am
I visited their store recently for the first time and thought that they were such nice people and enjoyed hearing about their long time family business. I am sorry to hear that this has happened to them.
Good job PAPD for getting 2 out of 4, I hope you can get all 4 of them.
Barron Park
on Jul 27, 2018 at 11:53 am
on Jul 27, 2018 at 11:53 am
> Why do these crooks come from so far away to steal from Palo Alto businesses? The thieves in this account were from the LA area and the women stealing from Stanford Shopping Center came from Antioch.
Chief Jonsen told our neighborhood group that this is fallout for Proposition 47, which classified nonviolent offenses, such as drug and property crimes, from felonies to misdemeanors. Since California doesn't extradite for misdemeanors, there's little incentive to aggressively pursue prosecution of criminals across other jurisdictions.
[Yes, it's a controversial position, but many in law enforcement feel this way about Proposition 47.]
Downtown North
on Jul 27, 2018 at 1:07 pm
on Jul 27, 2018 at 1:07 pm
> These people must not be very intelligent.
Curious. Were the coin thieves going to spend the stolen coinage at face value or fence them off to prospective collectors?
It seems like a lot of trouble to go through...trying to find the right numismatist(s).
On the other hand, using them at laundromats and car washes seems kind of stupid given the risk involved in stealing them.
Professorville
on Jul 28, 2018 at 9:13 am
on Jul 28, 2018 at 9:13 am
@ Esther
Palo Alto may have richer pickings than their local 'hoods?
Old Palo Alto
on Jul 28, 2018 at 2:14 pm
on Jul 28, 2018 at 2:14 pm
@ Esther
Palo Alto may have richer pickings than their local 'hoods?
Regarding the Stanford Shopping Center thefts...Walnut Creek, Orinda and Danville are a lot closer to Antioch than Palo Alto.
And as far as the PA coin thefts are concerned, places like Beverly Hills and Pacific Palisades are within a closer proximity to LA.
These thieves are not very bright.
Palo Alto Hills
on Jul 28, 2018 at 6:13 pm
on Jul 28, 2018 at 6:13 pm
> Curious. Were the coin thieves going to spend the stolen coinage at face value or fence them off to prospective collectors?
Chances are (and time permitting), they were probably going to head down to the supermarket and redeem them at one of those 'CoinStar' conversion machines.