Palo Alto police have arrested a woman who they said burglarized an occupied home in the University South neighborhood on Thursday evening and then stole a package from another home a few blocks away.
The burglary occurred at about 9:20 p.m. on Nov. 30 on the 1500 block of Byron Street, near Rinconada Park, according to a police news release. The residents of the home, two adults and two children, were all at home when the mother, a woman in her 40s, heard footsteps downstairs and assumed it was another family member walking around.
While she initially thought nothing of it, a short while later she and her husband checked their security camera and saw a woman whom they don’t know enter their home through the front door, which was unlocked, walking through the house to get to the backyard and then leaving out of the side yard, according to the police.
The home occupants noticed that the woman stole the woman’s purse and jacket. They called the police about 15 minutes after the incursion but officers could not locate the woman, the news release states.
An hour after the call, however, police received another call about a woman who was reportedly prowling on the front porch of a home on the 1300 block of Middlefield Road. The caller said the woman was now a few houses away, doing the same thing. Police arrived a few minutes later and detained the woman at the corner of Embarcadero Road and Webster Street.
Police said she had the purse and jacket from the Byron Street home in her possession, as well as an unopened package that they said had been stolen from a home on the 1100 block of Harker Avenue. Officers returned the stolen property, according to the news release.
The woman identified herself using multiple names and dates of birth, according to the news release. But after fingerprinting her, police were able to identify the woman, who is 52 and has no permanent address, according to the news release. She was booked into the Santa Clara County Main Jail for burglary, a felony, and two misdemeanors, petty theft and providing a false identity to the police.
Anyone with information about this incident is asked to call the department’s 24-hour dispatch center at (650) 329-2413 or send anonymous tips to paloalto@tipnow.org or (650) 383-8984.
Editor's Note: Palo Alto Online's policy is to withhold the names of those arrested for most crimes until the District Attorney has determined there is sufficient evidence to file charges in the case. See our guidelines here.
Comments
Registered user
Downtown North
on Dec 4, 2023 at 10:19 am
Registered user
on Dec 4, 2023 at 10:19 am
"... who is 52 and has no permanent address ..."
Is this truly criminal? Desperation sounds more like it.
Registered user
Midtown
on Dec 4, 2023 at 10:34 am
Registered user
on Dec 4, 2023 at 10:34 am
lets-do-the-numbers: YES, it is criminal to enter a home uninvited (its called TRESPASSING) and stealing someones personal property ](aka ]THEFT! Your question astonishes me.
Registered user
Barron Park
on Dec 4, 2023 at 11:05 am
Registered user
on Dec 4, 2023 at 11:05 am
@lets-do-the-numbers
You ask "is this truly criminal?" Yes, of course it's criminal. But I understand the intent of your question, which is "Surely, in the interest of social justice and reparations and 400 years of oppression, aren't we oppressors obligated to let people steal whatever they want?"
Berkeley is the only city I know of where the residents are so deranged by identity politics that they actually debate whether one should call the police when they see someone stealing from a home or a car.
Chesa Boudin, former DA of San Francisco, decided that as long as someone stole less than $950 in each instance, that was just fine. (Of course, it wasn't fine for the stores, which were forced to close their doors and layoff their employees, or for the customers)
Perhaps the increase in lawlessness over the past decade is partially due to the emergence of this extreme viewpoint and its instantiation by DAs like Boudin, Gascon in Los Angeles and Price in Alameda County Web Link Oakland now has the highest per capita auto theft rate in the country, up 36% this year, currently about 12,000 per year.
Registered user
Another Palo Alto neighborhood
on Dec 4, 2023 at 11:24 am
Registered user
on Dec 4, 2023 at 11:24 am
@ Barron Parker Too
Agree 100 percent. The justification for "theft" is terrifying. Not to mention, if the family at home had come in physical contact with this person brazenly wandering through their house stealing, who knows what would've happened. There were CHILDREN at home! Thankfully everyone in the family is safe and OK.
It's a very sad day, and reveals the root of crime skyrocketing, when people's comments (let's-do-the-numbers) are sympathy for the burglar ("desperation") instead of sympathy for those whose home was broken into while they were home with children! Their safety was put at high risk, personal property stolen, and the security of their home was violated. I'm sorry that happened to them. How awful.
Registered user
another community
on Dec 4, 2023 at 3:21 pm
Registered user
on Dec 4, 2023 at 3:21 pm
Article says "a woman whom they don’t know enter their home through the front door, which was unlocked"
On page 4, paragraph 3 of universal guide to care and feeding of children says always lock the front door because that is how you keep your children from running into intruders who just turned the knob and walked in as if they had been invited.
Registered user
Downtown North
on Dec 4, 2023 at 3:34 pm
Registered user
on Dec 4, 2023 at 3:34 pm
@Barron Parker Too, @Forever Name: there's no sympathy for the burglar. There's no social justice. The question is whether tax dollars should be spent fending off this crime, or actually fighting something more insidious. I personally view the reported crime as a joke -- not police-worthy, not news-worthy, not even conversation-worthy. Tax dollars deserve better.
Registered user
Duveneck/St. Francis
on Dec 4, 2023 at 4:41 pm
Registered user
on Dec 4, 2023 at 4:41 pm
Crimes WERE committed.
Registered user
Crescent Park
on Dec 5, 2023 at 9:20 am
Registered user
on Dec 5, 2023 at 9:20 am
@lets-do-the-numbers & Barron Parker Too
And so the question is...if a crime is committed, is the the perpetrator a criminal or a victim of social injustice?
All things considered, it could be a combination of both factors and considerations.
The next question...how should this incident be handled from the standpoint of ensuring public safety (law and order) VS social justice (racial factors, substance abuse and/or mental health issues)?
400 years of oppression is not a valid excuse for breaking into someone's residence but neither is simply ignoring the underlying conditions that give rise to various crimes and misdemeanors.