GILROY
– City police think they have a cat burglar in custody.
A local man police arrested for allegedly entering two occupied
homes on Santa Theresa Drive Sunday morning may be responsible for
a string of brazen residential burglaries two-and-a-half weeks
before, police say.
Robert Heredia, 44, grew up in Gilroy. He’s homeless, he told
police, but that didn’t stop him from continuing to live in
town
– albeit out of doors.
GILROY – City police think they have a cat burglar in custody.
A local man police arrested for allegedly entering two occupied homes on Santa Theresa Drive Sunday morning may be responsible for a string of brazen residential burglaries two-and-a-half weeks before, police say.
Robert Heredia, 44, grew up in Gilroy. He’s homeless, he told police, but that didn’t stop him from continuing to live in town – albeit out of doors.
Heredia stands charged with two felony counts of burglary for Sunday’s incidents, but more charges could be added if an investigation links him to a series of house, garage and vehicle burglaries that took place on the morning of Oct. 16.
The various burglaries were similar, because they occurred between 2 and 5 a.m., with the residents present inside. None were break-ins; the entries were through unlocked doors and windows or with a garage-door opener. Both of Sunday’s alleged burglaries were through unlocked doors.
“My caution to the public of Gilroy is, lock your door when you go to bed,” said police Sgt. John Sheedy, the supervisor on duty at the time of Heredia’s arrest.
The risk of getting caught was high in all these cases. On Oct. 16, residents of two separate homes came close to catching the burglar(s).
On Sunday, Heredia was caught: A witness saw him, he ran and tried to hide from police, and he was in possession of the same amount of cash reported stolen minutes before.
A female resident of the 7700 block of Santa Theresa Drive said she awoke to the sound of the front door opening at 4:50 a.m. She assumed her adult son had come home and got up to check on him. Instead, she found that her son was in bed asleep but lights were on, the door was ajar and her purse and its contents were strewn on the floor. She also noticed that $500 had been stolen from the house. She called police at 4:58 a.m.
At the same time, a woman who lives a block south, on the 7600 block of Santa Theresa Drive, was awake on her living-room couch, watching television, when Heredia entered her unlocked front door and walked into her hall, she later told police. She and he made eye contact through a glass-paned door between the living room and the hall; then he waved, said, “Bye,” and ran out onto the street, she said.
As Officer Marty Beltran arrived at the 7700 block in his patrol car, he said he saw Heredia running south on the sidewalk, about a block-and-a-half away. When Heredia saw the car approach, he flung himself onto a lawn on the 7600 block and tried to hide by lying flat on the grass, Beltran reported. Beltran arrested him without incident, finding $500 in his possession.
While Beltran was handcuffing Heredia, the woman who saw Heredia in her hallway reportedly ran up, pointed at Heredia and said she had just seen him in her house.
Heredia “did not deny or confirm any involvement in any of the cases,” Sheedy said.
Police declined to say whether Heredia had a criminal record, but Sheedy said he couldn’t remember any arrests for Heredia recently, if at all.
“I’ve known him for 35 years,” police Sgt. John Sheedy said. “I would not call him a frequent flyer.”
Heredia was a barber by trade but had been estranged from his former employer for five years, according to his sister, Norma Heredia. She did not know where he lived, she said.
“We haven’t talked for a long time,” Norma said. Except for one get-together two weeks ago, she said, she has not spoken to her brother in a year.
“He went with us to Great America (amusement park) with his two daughters,” Norma said. “After that, I don’t know where he went.”
Norma declined any further comment about her brother.
Robert Heredia is being held in county jail in San Jose on $100,000 bail. His arraignment is set for Wednesday afternoon.
“The investigation is still continuing on whether this is the subject that committed those prior burglaries or not,” Gilroy police Sgt. Kurt Ashley said Monday morning.
On Oct. 16, one or more burglars committed the following burglaries, according to the victims:
• 713 Carignane Drive, Reggiani residence – Entered house through unlocked back door, stole a 20000 Toyota 4Runner sport-utility vehicle (later found in a nearby driveway), three sets of keys, a cell phone, cash and an ice-cream bar. Fled when family members woke up and gave chase.
• 6775 Stephen Court, Calderon residence – Stole a stereo, wallet, CDs, sunglasses and a garage-door opener from vehicles out front, then entered garage and house (with man sleeping on living-room couch) and stole a set of keys.
• 6760 Stephen Court, Amaro residence – Entered garage through an unlocked window and took a chainsaw, a hand-held power saw, a garage-door opener and CDs.
• 6690 Stephen Court, Penzo residence – Entered unlocked garage and stole two high-end softball bats. Resident woke as a car sped away.
• Stephen Court – Ransacked two unlocked cars, but nothing reported stolen.
