Man Arraigned on Petty Theft, Attempted Break-In

A man suspected of trying to break into one San Marino home and then stealing a package that had been delivered to another remains in the Alhambra Police Department jail after he was arraigned on charges last week.
The suspect, a 38-year-old man, was apprehended outside of a home in the 600 block of Chester Avenue after apparently taking and opening a package that had been delivered there. Officers were responding to a report shortly before the same suspect had tried to burglarize a nearby home in the 2100 block of Lombardy Road.
“Because it was so quick, we had an officer there at our usual response time, in a minute or two,” said Sgt. Tim Tebbetts with San Marino Police Department.
Tebbetts said the caretaker of the Lombardy Road home called police at 3:53 p.m. Tuesday, March 6, after apparently witnessing the suspect trying to open the home’s back sliding glass door. The suspect may have left the property after seeing the caretaker, although Tebbetts stressed that was purely speculative.
“The door she saw him at, he was strictly trying to open it manually,” Tebbetts added. “He opened up the screen door and he was trying to open up the glass door, but it was locked.”
Footage from the camera of a Ring device apparently shows the suspect shortly after walking up to the porch and opening the package, which contained a sweater. The suspect, who had been shirtless up to this point, apparently put on the sweater.
Tebbetts said the suspect’s last known address is in La Verne, but he may be a transient. At this point in the investigation, Tebbetts said it was unclear whether the suspect may be linked to any other crimes in the city.
He credited the caretaker’s quick thinking for getting officers to the scene quickly.
“We’re just glad that somebody was able to give us an accurate description,” Tebbetts said. “A lot of the times, the description we get has no correlation to who we’re actually looking for.”
The suspect was arraigned on Thursday, March 8, in Alhambra Superior Court on one charge of attempted burglary and one charge of petty theft. Although initially arrested for mail theft, Tebbetts explained that it was changed to petty theft because the package was delivered by UPS and not the U.S. Postal Service.