Crime & Safety

Surveillance Camera Helps PA Police Nab Burglar

The camera automatically emailed the resident that the suspect, an maintenance worker, was in her Palo Alto apartment.

Palo Alto police arrested a maintenance worker after he was photographed by a surveillance camera burglarizing an apartment.

The incident occurred on Wednesdsay at about 6 p.m. in an apartment in the 300 block of Curtner Avenue.

Police say their 24-hour dispatch center received a call from a woman reporting that she had just returned home to find that her apartment had been burglarized while she was at work.

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The investigation revealed that the victim, a woman in her thirties, had installed a surveillance camera inside her apartment after it had been burglarized about a year ago (in that case, which remains unsolved, jewelry had been stolen by an unknown suspect).

The surveillance camera she installed is triggered via a motion sensor. During the burglary, it automatically e-mailed the victim photographs of the suspect inside her apartment. The suspect stole a digital music player and the surveillance camera itself, though not before it had already sent the images. There were no signs of forced entry to the apartment.

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On Thursday, officers took the photographs of the suspect to the property management company responsible for the apartment complex. An employee there immediately recognized the suspect as one of their painters, 28-year-old Victor Adrian Martinez-Lopez of Hayward.

The company said Martinez-Lopez had no business entering any occupied residence, and was not scheduled to do any work at the victim’s apartment complex. Martinez-Lopez did not have access to keys to any of the apartments, and officers believe that he may have entered the victim’s apartment via an unlocked window.

Police say the property management company cooperated fully with the investigation.

Officers arrested Martinez-Lopez at about 5:00 p.m. on Thursday in the 900 block of High Street. Officers located the stolen digital music player in his possession.

Police booked Martinez-Lopez into the Santa Clara County Main Jail for one count of felony residential burglary.

Martinez-Lopez is on court probation in Alameda County stemming from a conviction for driving under the influence of alcohol.

Police say there is no indication at this point that Martinez-Lopez is responsible for the original burglary at the victim’s apartment last year. There is also no indication that he is responsible for any other residential burglaries in Palo Alto.

Police ask that anyone who may have information about this crime contact the 24-hour dispatch center at 650-329-2413. Anonymous tips can be e-mailed to paloalto@tipnow.org or sent via text message or voice mail to 650-383-8984.


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