A routine traffic stop in Gilroy resulted in an arrest of two people for allegedly burglarizing a home in Crescent Park earlier this month, Palo Alto police said.
Joseph Nolan Hopkins, 29, and his wife, Breanna Maree Hopkins, 28, are believed to have taken part in a March 12 burglary in the 600 block of Fulton Street, between Forest and Hamilton avenues. Police learned about the burglary that night, when two residents --- a couple in their seventies --- reported that someone had entered their home and taken their property, including jewelry, a checkbook, credit cards, cash and other miscellaneous items.
Police determined that burglars had entered the side yard through an unlocked gate and then entered the home by forcing open a window that had been left ajar.
About three hours later, some of the items that had been taken from the home --- including the checkbook --- were discovered by a state trooper who had pulled over the Hopkins' BMW for a traffic infraction. In addition, the California Highway Patrol officer allegedly found the Hopkinses in possession of burglary tools and discovered that Joseph Hopkins had given the officer a false name.
Costa Mesa, California, were booked into the Santa Clara County Main Jail, Joseph Hopkins for possession of stolen property (a felony), possession of burglary tools and providing false information to police (both misdemeanors) and Breanna Hopkins also for the first two charges.
More charges were added later that morning, when Palo Alto detectives conducted follow-up interviews and learned that Joseph Hopkins was out on bail for burglary, grand theft auto and resisting arrest, police said. He was then charged with two more felonies: residential burglary and committing a felony while on bail for another felony. Detectives have also requested that the Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office add a felony charge of residential burglary to Breanna Hopkins.
Police said that after conducting a full search of the BMW, detectives recovered all the property stolen from the burglary with the exception of a few items of "miscellaneous personal property." They are investigating whether the Hopkinses were connected to any other burglaries in Palo Alto or surrounding cities.
Anyone with information about this incident is asked to call the Police Department's 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. Tips can also be submitted anonymously through the department's free mobile app, downloadable at the AppStore or GooglePlay.
Comments
East Palo Alto
on Mar 21, 2017 at 2:35 pm
on Mar 21, 2017 at 2:35 pm
Wow, not the usual suspects, Again. What is this world coming to. Good Job PD. Looks like one and all are coming to PA to commit property crimes.
Midtown
on Mar 21, 2017 at 5:56 pm
on Mar 21, 2017 at 5:56 pm
Did I count 4 felonies in that report. Lock them up and throw away the key. People who commit crime sprees like that are clearly not reformable.
Registered user
Crescent Park
on Mar 21, 2017 at 9:09 pm
Registered user
on Mar 21, 2017 at 9:09 pm
Does Palo Alto have such a soft reputation these days that thugs are driving up from Southern California to rob and burglarize homes here?
Old Palo Alto
on Mar 21, 2017 at 11:42 pm
on Mar 21, 2017 at 11:42 pm
Good Job to the PD for catching the criminals.
Is it me or is there a rise in serious crime in Palo Alto? I do not remember reading about any serious crime there between 2002 - 2007.
Midtown
on Mar 22, 2017 at 12:24 am
on Mar 22, 2017 at 12:24 am
@Safety? - you must have a short memory. There are hundreds of burglaries and dozens of assaults and robberies every year in Palo Alto. Counts change from year to year, but I don't think there's been a significant increasing or decreasing trend. Maybe considering the growth in the city in recent years, the somewhat flat crime count is a good thing.
Palo Verde
on Mar 22, 2017 at 1:56 am
on Mar 22, 2017 at 1:56 am
See PAPD stats going back to 2009 -- Web Link
City-Data matches these numbers pretty well and goes back to 2001 -- Web Link
Didn't realize we had so much arson.
Crescent Park
on Mar 22, 2017 at 11:44 am
on Mar 22, 2017 at 11:44 am
I don't think there is a serious crime increase in Palo Alto. Back a few years there was incident after incident of people being mugged on the street for their belongings. I have no read anything like that lately. Have I missed something. There do seem to be more burglaries.
Amazingly though the police seem to be catching a lot of these guys. What is the secret to nabbing someone who committed a buglary in Palo Alto as they driving though Gilroy ... that is amazing. Great job law enforcement.
Is this the result of so many video cameras and being able to track cell phones and other stuff these days. At least something is working better. Again, great job police! Thanks.
Palo Verde
on Mar 22, 2017 at 12:12 pm
on Mar 22, 2017 at 12:12 pm
Here's PAPD numbers 2009 through 2016
Robbery 29 39 25 26 30 26 26 28
Assaults 63 70 35 23 21 24 27 35
Burglary 267 217 287 332 242 273 212 221
Assaults were much higher in 2009-10. Maybe somebody can clarify whether "being mugged" is tallied as a robbery or an assault. Looks like burglaries peaked in 2012; I suppose these are mostly car break-ins.
Old Palo Alto
on Mar 22, 2017 at 12:32 pm
on Mar 22, 2017 at 12:32 pm
@resident:
The Palo Alto PD is doing an excellent job.
My point is that something has changed where violent crimes during certain periods of time as noted by reader "musical" has increased. No amount of cameras, crossing guards, or surveillance will console a victim after experiencing a rape, loss of vision due to assault, or mental disability due to a psychological scar. It is better to isolate the source of problem than to continually try to treat society's social symptoms.
Here's PAPD numbers 2009 through 2016
Robbery 29 39 25 26 30 26 26 28
Assaults 63 70 35 23 21 24 27 35
Burglary 267 217 287 332 242 273 212 221
Assaults were much higher in 2009-10. Maybe somebody can clarify whether "being mugged" is tallied as a robbery or an assault. Looks like burglaries peaked in 2012; I suppose these are mostly car break-ins.
Old Palo Alto
on Mar 22, 2017 at 1:12 pm
on Mar 22, 2017 at 1:12 pm
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”
― Benjamin Franklin
another community
on Mar 22, 2017 at 2:12 pm
on Mar 22, 2017 at 2:12 pm
So, during a "routine traffic stop," a state trooper saw some of "jewelry, a checkbook, credit cards, cash and other miscellaneous items" and somehow realized that they were stolen goods?
This sounds extremely unlikely to me. My guess is that the car, or the couple, somehow aroused the cops' suspicions and, since they didn't have probable cause, they invented a traffic-related reason to stop them.
Adobe-Meadow
on Mar 22, 2017 at 5:36 pm
on Mar 22, 2017 at 5:36 pm
"they invented a traffic-related reason to stop them."
Sort of like how Paul invented that fictional story to vent his personal biases.
Crescent Park
on Mar 22, 2017 at 7:00 pm
on Mar 22, 2017 at 7:00 pm
-- since they didn't have probable cause, they invented a traffic-related reason to stop them.
You say that like it is a bad thing, if that is indeed what happened ( which you likely have no knowledge or proof of ) or is that my imagination. Do you think this is bad? I think there should be checks - like if the some officer is pulling over lots of people without results or the same person is being pulled over for no reason, but if they can get results like this it is worth looking into rather than being sarcastic about.
another community
on Mar 22, 2017 at 11:35 pm
on Mar 22, 2017 at 11:35 pm
@Plane
I have no proof, but it sounds like the most plausible scenario, to me.
As far as a bad thing. Well, I think it's an illegal thing. It's not as bad as framing someone, but there's a reason that the fourth amendment forbids unreasonable searches and seizures. In this case it worked (and, yes, this is assuming that my theory of what happened is accurate) but, if we were young black men getting pulled over for no reason all the time, we rightly wouldn't like it.
Palo Verde
on Mar 23, 2017 at 1:16 am
on Mar 23, 2017 at 1:16 am
Maybe it was the soul patch, but more likely the driver got nervous when spotting a patrol car in his vicinity, and began taking evasive actions. 2 a.m. is not a good time for burglars to be on the road, with law enforcement watching so carefully for evidence of drunk driving. Giving false identification to an officer is probable cause for the contents of your car to become fair game.
The sympathetic can be consoled by the likelihood this couple will be out again soon and have a chance to refine their getaways.
Crescent Park
on Mar 23, 2017 at 5:06 pm
on Mar 23, 2017 at 5:06 pm
> if we were young black men getting pulled over for no reason all the time, we rightly wouldn't like it.
We seem to always want to freeze the American mind at the first grade level ... throw everything in the same bucket and call it good ... or bad.
Yes, I think it is -ed-up that black people get stopped and harassed by law-enforcement. We've had a bunch of awareness and laws against that for decades now and it has not done much, so I'm thinking the requisite pouting in unrelated stories is probably not relevant or helpful in that regard.
What happens to minorities is a different subject.
To me, here is the question, or the criterion.
1. If the police are pulling people over without result, there's a problem.
2. If the police are pulling people over with prejudice, there's a problem. The subtext to that is if there are correct statistics to back up pulling these people over. For example, and this is only and example, but if the people driving around that "seem suspicious" to the police, and the police pull them over and find say, X% of criminals, that may just be the cost of policing that we have to pay. Now, on the other hand, if certain police are pulling over preferentially people they do not like, and they have a much lower hit rate, then there is statistical proof of racism, or whatever-ism and I would call it a problem.
In my younger years when I used to be on the road at times that would draw attention to oneself, I was pulled over and questioned many times. It got tiresome and sometimes I took it personally even though I was white and normally groomed. I drove a sporty-ish car and from the day I got it I got a lot of police attention.
The other side of my experience is that as I would be out at late/early hours, I noticed lots and lots of really problem drivers. I could go on for an hour at length about the experiences I've had with people driving around on the road weaving back and forth and even making U-turns in the driving lane and going the wrong way. There is more than plenty of reason sometimes to stop people. What is needed is a way to follow-up and validate the correctness of these stops, but just from this story at least some of them work and do good things.
If that car had gotten home and their ill-gotten-gains distributed and sold, what do we gain by calling that freedom or justice because some minority was not bothered?
I think the issue of police shooting unarmed minorities and lots of other racist problems must be stopped. But just today on NPR I heard a story about a white guy a few years ago in another state who having just killed his girlfriend and best friend wanted to end his life by attacking a policeman .... amazingly twice in one day, and was not shot or even hurt. So, whatever these problems are, however we define them or handle them, the way we talk about them here, like this, is useless - and that is making negative sarastic comments about how the police made up a reason to stop these people.
I know I have been stopped maybe 10 times in my life for reasons that were totally made up, and I still get hot about it, but the only times I am really angry is when the police had the nerve to give me a ticket because they didn't like me or my attitude at the time for whatever reason when I did not do what they say I did. That happened maybe 3 times. Let's get real about this, the police did a great job here.