SAN JOSE — Alert Almaden Valley residents who spotted home burglars speeding out of their neighborhood helped authorities find and arrest a suspect and three alleged accomplices linked to at least eight burglaries in the South Bay, according to San Jose police.
Marco Antonio Cortez, 19, of San Jose, and three other male teens — ages 18, 17, and 15 — were arrested last week in various locations in San Jose, police spokesman Officer Albert Morales said. In varying degrees of involvement, the foursome is suspected in seven burglaries in San Jose and one in Sunnyvale dating back to September 2013.
The scheme was apparently foiled the morning of Feb. 25 when residents near Olive Branch Lane in South San Jose saw the tail end of a home break-in and gave police descriptive details of the intruders and their getaway car, Morales said.
Later that day, officers tracked the vehicle to a home in East San Jose that they watched for a brief time before they arrested Cortez. During his interrogation, Cortez reportedly told investigators he was involved in six other San Jose burglaries and another in Sunnyvale, police said.
Police eventually learned of the possible involvement of the 17-year-old and 15-year-old boys in the Olive Branch burglary, Morales said, and the teens were found and arrested that evening in San Jose.
The next day on Feb. 26, the 18-year-old suspect — whose identity was not immediately available — was arrested on suspicion of being Cortez’s accomplice in the Sunnyvale incident.
“This case was an excellent example of alert residents and the police department working together to get a prolific burglar off the streets,” said Lt. Paul Messier, commander of SJPD’s financial crimes unit.
Cortez, who is being held in the Santa Clara County Jail on $350,000 bail, is the only suspect linked to all eight burglaries. The six burglaries linked solely to Cortez were reported Sept. 13, 2013 on Guluzzo Drive; Nov. 13, 2014 on Stubbins Way; Dec. 9 on Suffolk Drive; Jan. 12 on Bellemeades Street; and Feb. 2 on Mayberry Lane.
Anyone with information about the case can contact San Jose police at 408-277-4401 or leave a tip with Silicon Valley Crime Stoppers at 408-947-STOP (7867) or with svcrimestoppers.org.
Contact Robert Salonga at 408-920-5002. Follow him at Twitter.com/robertsalonga.
