PALO ALTO, Calif. (KRON) — Palo Alto police have arrested two suspects they say are connected to 10 different auto burglary cases.
The arrests came after the two suspects attempted to steal from an occupied car in a downtown parking garage.
On Saturday, Feb. 15, around 1:50 p.m., an in-progress car burglary at the parking garage located at 445 Bryant Street was reported to the Palo Alto Police Department.
Preliminary investigation revealed the woman was sitting in her parked car on the fourth floor of the garage when a man approached her on the driver’s side and hit the window with a flashlight, attempting to break it.
When the suspect saw the woman, he walked away.
The woman exited her car and watched the two suspects walk down the stairwell to the third level garage. As she called 911 to report what occurred, the woman heard the sound of glass breaking and she saw the first suspect peek into car windows, police say.
Police arrived to the scene and spotted two men that matched the descriptions of the suspects in the 400 block of Florence Street. One suspect surrendered while the other suspect ran northbound on Florence Street.
After a short foot pursuit, police tackled the suspect in the 300 block of Lytton Avenue and took him into custody. Police say he got a cut in the back of his head and in the inside of his mouth during the arrest.
Paramedics from the Palo Alto Fire Department treated the suspect at the scene and took him to a nearby hospital where he was treated for minor injuries.
Police booked him when he was released from the hospital the following day.
The suspects have been identified as 24-year-old Francisco Manolo Fuentes and 20-year-old Christopher Joshua Mejia, both from San Francisco. The two were booked into the San Jose Main Jail.
Officers at the scene found several more cars in the parking garage that had their windows smashed. They also found the suspect car at Lytton Avenue and Florence Street with a .40 caliber handgun, prescription drugs and stolen property which included electronics, purses and wallets.
Police determined the stolen property was connected to 10 different car burglaries in Palo Alto. Three of them occurred on Saturday and the other seven occurred prior.
Detectives are now investigating whether the suspects are connected to more cases in the city.
The suspects face the following charges: five counts of possession of stolen property, three counts of auto burglary, attempted auto burglary, conspiracy to commit a crime, possession of a firearm by a felon, possession of ammunition by a felon, possession of a high capacity magazine, carrying a firearm while not the registered owner, possession of stolen property, and possession of a controlled substance.
Anyone with information about this incident is asked to call (650) 329-2413.
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