GILROY
– Thanks to an alert music store owner in Watsonville, Santa
Clara County sheriff’s deputies have identified one of three men
who burglarized home hidden away near the crest of Mount
Madonna.
GILROY – Thanks to an alert music store owner in Watsonville, Santa Clara County sheriff’s deputies have identified one of three men who burglarized home hidden away near the crest of Mount Madonna.
Some of the stolen property – a number of valuable musical instruments – has now been recovered, but the rest – a .44 magnum handgun, home stereo equipment and a digital camera – have not.
“Until this person is apprehended, he is considered armed and dangerous,” sheriff’s detective Julian Quiñonez said Friday. Quiñonez is seeking a warrant to arrest the man but still did not know the identities of two other suspects.
On Tuesday, the day of the burglary, Jansen Music owner Jody Fonseca unknowingly bought two stolen Tacoma acoustic guitars and an amplifier from a young man who said he needed to sell the gear because he was joining the Army. Without paying much attention to the instruments, Fonseca made an initial offer of $200, and the man accepted. They were actually worth about $1,650, according to Quiñonez.
“When he left, I thought, ‘Hmm, that was a little too easy,” Fonseca said. A closer look told him the instruments were more valuable than the seller realized. In one guitar case, he found a business card of a man who works in Salinas. Fonseca called the phone number on the card and told the man he had just bought his guitars.
“He said, ‘Oh, yeah, I’ve got a guitar just like it, but it’s at home,’ ” Fonseca said. “I said, ‘No it’s not; I’ve got it right here.’ It took him about five minutes to figure out what I was trying to tell him.”
The victim – a former Gilroy resident who now lives on a tiny private road off Hecker Pass Highway in the Santa Cruz Mountains – did not know his house had been burglarized. When he returned home that evening, he found it had been ransacked as well.
In addition to the instruments Fonseca had, the victim was missing a 1961 Fender electric bass worth about $2,500, an electric violin worth $1,000 and a Fender electric guitar, plus the camera, stereo gear a digital camera and handgun. He called the sheriff’s department at about 8 p.m. and also called Fonseca.
The day of the burglary, a neighbor witnessed three unknown men, about 20 years old, driving a light-colored pickup truck on the homeowner-owned road, Quiñonez said.
“It’s a one-car road,” he said. “It’s not something that a normal person would drive up. … This wasn’t just a random burglary where the guy drove by and said let’s (steal from) this place. … We’re trying to figure out what the connection is with the victim and the possible suspects.”
Fonseca said he felt guilty and angry he had bought the stolen property and vowed to try to help catch the suspects.
The next day, he got his chance when the young man returned with more instruments to sell.
“He came in with exactly the same stuff the victim had described,” Fonseca said. “I had made up my mind what I was going to do.”
Fonseca had the suspect and a friend bring all the instruments inside the store and then asked to see the man’s ID to complete the sale. The suspect agreed and handed over his driver’s license. After assuring himself that the license was real and that the picture matched the man standing in front of him, Fonseca copied down the information, called 911 and told the Watsonville police to come pick up someone trying to sell him stolen property.
It took a minute for the two suspects to realize what was happening, Fonseca said. The suspect’s associate ran out the door, and the would-be seller reached over the counter to wrestle his ID away from Fonseca. After a short struggle, he succeeded and fled with the license. Fonseca chased them across the parking lot, saw them jump into a light-colored pickup that matched the sheriff’s description and read its license plate number to the 911 dispatcher, whom he still had on the phone.
The burglary victim, who asked not to be identified, said he and his neighbors met recently to discuss the theft. There have been prior burglaries on their one-lane road over the years, he said, and now they are more inclined to lock their doors.
“A lot of people feel very comfortable in their homes up there, and they don’t lock their doors,” said Quiñonez, who encouraged rural residents to lock up.
Detective Quiñonez encourages anyone with information about this case, especially pawn shop owners, to call him at
686-3661.
