SAN RAFAEL (KRON) — A suspect is in jail Thursday night after two San Rafael bike shop owners took justice into their own hands.
An employee spotted a man they believe burglarized their store the night before.
KRON4’s Ella was at Motopia in San Rafael with the bizarre story.
It is unusual for a victim to come across his or her alleged burglar, but the Motopia owners say there is one thing that gave him away–the man was wearing special-ordered gear that went missing from the store.
“From the security camera, you can see the glass come in…” owner Justin Rastagar said.
Rastagar recounts the surveillance footage captured Tuesday of a man breaking into his store.
“So, we’ve got this guy from every single angle. We knew exactly who this guy was, what he looked like, what he was doing,” Rastagar said.
The burglar is then seen making his way, grabbing leather jackets, pants, and cash from the register.
He then almost got away with a $10,000 bike.
“Fortunately there wasn’t a key in it,” Rastagar said. “It was a little bit too advanced for him, so he wasn’t able to figure it out.”
The thief then couldn’t take everything he wanted in his own backpack. Then, as if to add insult to injury, he stuffed everything he could in their own duffle bags, taking it with him.
But he didn’t get too far.
The very next day, Motopia employee Amanda Ervin spotted a man in town wearing gear missing from their store that she believed was the same person seen in the video.
“And then I looked down and saw he was wearing my boyfriend’s shoes that we special ordered for him,” Ervin said.
She stalled the man now identified by police as 28-year-old Jose Vasquez until Justin and his brother showed up.
“Asked him where the jacket was from,” Ervin said. “At that point, he got violent and instinct sort of kicked in from there.”
They were forced to pin him down until police showed up.
A laptop stolen from the store was found in Vasquez’s possession.
He was immediately arrested.
“Hopefully this guy will think twice before he steals from people anymore,” Ervin said.
Justin says as the suspect was handcuffed, he says he heard over the police scanner that the bicycle Vasquez was riding had a serial number from a previous theft.
So, they say they’re happy to have helped taken him off the streets.