Many items are recovered from series of burglaries
By Rebecca Ray
Local law enforcement agencies have identified some 15 suspects in a rash of residential burglaries that occurred in the West Valley last fall, says Sgt. Detective Mike Powers of the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office. From September to December 2001, residents in Saratoga, Cupertino and Los Altos Hills--the three cities in the sheriff's West Valley jurisdiction--experienced 80 percent more burglaries than the previous autumn, according to the sheriff's annual public safety report.
Some of the burglaries that occurred in fall 2001 were "hot prowl" burglaries--committed while residents were at home. The sheriff's office and nine other local agencies--the Campbell, Fremont City, Livermore, Los Altos, Los Gatos-Monte Sereno, Milpitas, San Jose, Santa Clara and Sunnyvale police departments--have arrested and are obtaining warrants on some of the suspects. Law enforcement officials believe that some of the suspects who were arrested for burglary are responsible for multiple burglaries.
Powers says he knows of at least seven suspects for the Saratoga burglaries. In fall 2001, 33, or three times as many, residential burglaries occurred in Saratoga as during fall 2000, according to the sheriff's public safety report.
Officers arrested three of the suspects in the Saratoga burglaries for either possessing stolen checks from a Saratoga church or using counterfeit checks that contained the church's account information.
Law enforcement agencies have recovered most of the stolen property from two of the Saratoga burglaries. The property was mostly jewelry that had been broken apart so the gold and stones could be taken, Powers said.
Officers also recovered a computer, a digital camera, family walkie-talkies and musical instruments, including two high-priced collector's guitars.
Law enforcement agency personnel still haven't found the owners of some of the recovered items. Powers says he is sending letters to the victims, asking them to look at photographs of the items for identification purposes.
The Saratoga burglaries occurred primarily between 6 and 11 p.m. and between 5 and 8 a.m., which is unusual, said Lieutenant Ernie Smedlund of the sheriff's office West Valley Substation. Ordinarily, Smedlund said, burglaries occur during the day.
The Saratoga burglaries seemed to follow a pattern in which access was gained through rear doors and windows, both locked and unlocked, and jewelry and cash, usually in the master bedroom, were the primary targets.
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Saratoga, California Since 1955
