Couple leaves 11-month-old son in truck while they break into
home; Police recover more than 35 items they believe stolen from
area homes
Gilroy – “They were like a deer in headlights,” Detective Frank Bozzo said of the family police caught burglarizing a home on Monterey Road Thursday evening.
Police followed the suspects for several hours Thursday after acquiring information linking their vehicle to several vehicle and residential burglaries in the Gilroy area. Soon enough, the family was spotted casing the home on Monterey Road before entering and wheeling out two motorcycles into a pickup truck. That’s when police moved in.
“They just froze,” Bozzo said, describing how the Anti-Crime Team moved in to arrest Gilroy residents Lucia Ramirez Esparza, 23, her boyfriend Juan Manual Ortiz, 24, and his 17-year-old brother.
The couple left their 11-month-old son in the pickup while the three burglarized the home about 4pm, police said.
After searching their home Thursday night, police recovered more than 35 items they believe to be stolen, amounting to several thousands of dollars.
“We found everything from a large 4,000 watt generator to a small DVD player,” Bozzo said.
Esparza was arrested on suspicion of burglary, two counts of possession of a stolen vehicle, child endangerment, and conspiracy to commit a crime. Ortiz was arrested on the same charges and on suspicion of committing a crime while out on bail and violating probation. The teen was arrested on suspicion of burglary.
“It’s obvious from our conversations last night that she’s very much as involved as her boyfriend,” Bozzo said. “They all actively took part in the burglary.”
Gilroy police used information from the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s office and through tips to link the suspects to a vehicle spotted in association with several burglaries inside the city limits and in the unincorporated areas.
“When we shared information we had a common suspect or suspects, and a common vehicle,” Bozzo explained how the operation was devised. “With all this information that was gathered we determined who was associated with the vehicle and made a surveillance. We took a chance. A random day was chosen. It just so happens we got lucky.”
Friday afternoon police sorted through large industrial power saws, CD covers, pellet guns, a computer, and DVD players attempting to find the owners.
“A lot of stuff has owner identification so the likelihood that we’ll be able to identify the owners is good,” he said.
Police believe the suspects may be linked with several vehicle and residential burglaries both Gilroy Police and the Sheriff’s Office are handling.
Fingerprints will be sent to the crime lab in San Jose order to determine whether a connection can be made in others.
But for now, at least one person has their property back where it belongs.
“The owner of the home was very happy,” Bozzo said. “He had just left his property to buy parts and had been gone 15 minutes. When he got back the police were in his front yard.”
