Police arrested two men suspected of several vehicle break-ins in Palo Alto on Thursday night.
The men were arrested after one of the victims was able to track their movements via an electronic device they are suspected of taking from her parked car, according to a police press release issued Monday.
At about 8:30 p.m. Thursday, calls started coming in to police about a rash of auto break-ins, with many of the victims reporting their locked vehicles were broken into while they were out to eat.
A woman whose car was burglarized reported that she was tracking her device, which was in the 600 block of San Antonio Road in Mountain View at about 8:45 p.m.
She was able to guide officers to the men's 2013 silver Hyundai Elantra rental car, which at the time was the sole car in a parking lot in the 2500 block of West El Camino Real, police said.
Officers followed the car and pulled it over in the 900 block of San Antonio Road in Los Altos at about 9 p.m., according to police.
The men were arrested and officers found several items, including laptops, backpacks and other electronic devices, allegedly taken from at least eight vehicles that day between 6:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m., in Palo Alto. The items were all left in plain view, according to police.
The men allegedly broke car windows to access the items. One of the men was later found with a window punch tool, police said.
The burglaries took place in parking lots in the 300 block of Sherman Avenue, 2300 block of Birch Street, 400 block of Cambridge Avenue, 2600 block of El Camino Real and 4200 block of El Camino Real.
Officers found all the stolen laptops and most of the victims' other property
The men, 21- and 22-year-old residents of Stockton, were booked into the Santa Clara County Main Jail on suspicion of multiple crimes, including auto burglary, conspiracy and possession of burglary tools, police said.
Anyone with information about this incident is asked to call the department's 24-hour dispatch center at 650-329-2413. Anonymous tips can be emailed to [email protected] or sent by text message or voicemail to 650-383-8984.
Editor's note: Palo Alto Online'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. Read our guidelines.
Comments
Registered user
Adobe-Meadow
on Jan 24, 2022 at 8:15 pm
Registered user
on Jan 24, 2022 at 8:15 pm
It’s fun to see all our neighbors screeching about the racisms and the mean policemen on the retirement/possible sheriff run articles about Bob Jonsen, but absolute crickets in these comments when they make good arrests. Of course the soft on crime DA they elected will have these boys out in the street and low to no prosecution, allowing them to keep stealing… but that’s unpleasant to think about, so we don’t.
Registered user
Adobe-Meadow
on Jan 25, 2022 at 9:12 am
Registered user
on Jan 25, 2022 at 9:12 am
Let me guess: these guys are instantly out on no-bail, no jail, systemic stupidity. it's society's fault that they're dangerous useless parasites. My grandparents came here penniless, speaking a different language, facing across the board racist limitations in what they could do for work, where they could live, limits on schooling. But stealing was unthinkable, education was all and the children became a business leader, a high-end physicist, a school teacher, a successful artist.
There are definitely though significantly reduced systemic issues that are encrusted in cultural child-rearing, outlook, and goals. I don't know how you change cultural expressions, but that's what generates criminals and it's enhanced, not suppressed by just letting them roam and being told that it's their victims fault.
Registered user
Downtown North
on Jan 25, 2022 at 11:09 am
Registered user
on Jan 25, 2022 at 11:09 am
that is odd. When our car got stolen in Palo Alto, and it was found in RWC, the Palo Alto police wanted nothing to do with the perpetrator who stole the car (we found ID and receipts of the thief left behind in the car... who had been convicted of vandalizing mailboxes in Menlo Park before).
The Palo Alto PD told us to call RWC police as it is out of their jurisdiction as the car was found in RWC even if our car was stolen in Palo Alto.
I'm surprised Palo Alto PD actually didn't call up Mountain View police and instead went out of their jurisdiction and then went into Los Altos and arrested the thieves.
Why is grand theft auto (our Toyota was stolen in Palo Alto) not an issue if it is out of Palo Alto city jurisdiction, but small electronic items found in Mountain View and eventually in Los Altos within Palo Alto Police jurisdiction.
Whats up with the inconsistency Palo Alto PD? This is the real issue of why people don't trust the police. Irregular and inconsistent behaviors.
Registered user
Barron Park
on Jan 25, 2022 at 11:24 am
Registered user
on Jan 25, 2022 at 11:24 am
What kind of device did the owner of the car have that she could track location? If not expensive might all cars we equipped with the same? Either by the owner or the car manufacture install.
I'd pay for one if under $100. Even though I park my car in the garage when not in use.
Registered user
Midtown
on Jan 25, 2022 at 11:43 am
Registered user
on Jan 25, 2022 at 11:43 am
Shirley 'Mac' :
Maybe you could call PAPD non-emergency and inquire. I wonder if this was an AirTag?
Palo Alto Res :
Why not ask the PAPD, maybe because this was a multi-car theft ring. Maybe you car stolen was at a time they were busy with all the BLM protests?
I don't think the majority of Palo Alto residents distrust the police.
Registered user
Old Palo Alto
on Jan 25, 2022 at 12:09 pm
Registered user
on Jan 25, 2022 at 12:09 pm
Soft on crime mentalities are actually promoting further crime via their progressive delusions.
The criminals are NOT the victims of society as some would like you to believe.
They are recurrent felons who should be locked-up until arraignment, pre-trial hearings, and trial + conviction are fully completed.
The reduced bail initiatives contribute to the ongoing crime sprees.
Do we want a safer society or further concessions for the hard-core criminal element?
We cannot have both.
Registered user
Embarcadero Oaks/Leland
on Jan 25, 2022 at 5:16 pm
Registered user
on Jan 25, 2022 at 5:16 pm
The victim probably had Find My Phone enabled.
When someone stole our credit card information to order stuff from Apple, the PA police declined to do anything even though they had the East Palo Alto address to which the Apple gear was shipped.
Also did you read today's report about the Virginia woman who traveled her to and repeatedly stalked and thatened Apple CEO and PA resident Tim Cook? Did they bother to check if she was really armed? Nope.
Web Link
"Former Santa Clara County prosecutor Steven Clark said when someone applies for a restraining order, courts “tend to err on the side of caution” but the danger “has to be immediate and there has to be a perceived ability to carry out the threat.”
That's the same excuse used to let the drunken stalker of councilwoman Lydia Kou off with a slap om the wrist because he wasn't "immediately" threatening to rape her, kill her, slit her throat, harm her kids and to keep calling until she changed her phone number at the exact moment they asked if she was in "immediate" danger at the time they called!
Because those 6 or 7 calls were only repeated but not "immediate," so e was only charged with a misdemeanor and his record was expunged after attending a few AA classes because being drunk was worse than repeatedly threatening violence.
So who's going to change the laws and who's the best DA candidate??