Neighbor Aids in Arrest of Burglary Suspect

An alert neighbor helped thwart a burglary in process, police officials reported Monday.

Palo Alto Police arrested a suspect, 30-year-old East Palo Alto resident Ibis Gerardo Martinez-Mendoza, according to department spokesman Detective Ron Harris.

Another suspect fled and remains at large.

According to Harris, the incident occurred on Friday, July 12 around 1:43 a.m. A neighbor called 9-1-1 because they heard a noise over at a residential construction site on the 1400 block of Hamilton Avenue. The neighbor reportedly saw two subjects who loaded objects into a parked van parked. 

Upon arrival, officers found an unoccupied and opened van from which they observed construction tools, "and saw more tools and equipment stacked nearby on the inside of a pried-open chain-link fence surrounding the property," according to the statement.

Then the officers heard people running through the construction site and the sound of people climbing a fence. The PAPD set up a perimeter to contain the suspects.

Around 2:09 a.m., and several blocks away, an officer noticed one of the suspects who began to crawl through some bushes on the 500 block of Newell Road.

The officer arrested Martinez-Mendoza without incident and booked him into the main jail. However, even after a thorough search that included two canine units—one from the Palo Alto Police Department and one from the Los Altos Police Department—the second subject escaped.

Police recovered all of the stolen property, which totaled about $8,000 of construction equipment and included a portable generator; a table saw and assorted power tools.

According to the PAPD, the investigation revealed that after prying open the chain-link fence surrounding the property, the suspects used blunt force to break into a locked shed at the job site where the tools had been secured.

The van, a green 2003 Ford, was registered to Martinez-Mendoza.

The second suspect has been described only as a Hispanic male, about 5 feet 6 inches tall with a thin build, last seen wearing a brown sweatshirt and blue jeans.

Anyone with information about this incident, or the identity of the outstanding suspect, is asked to call our 24-hour dispatch center at 650-329-2413. Anonymous tips can be emailed to paloalto@tipnow.org or sent via text message or voice mail to 650-383-8984.