Palo Alto burglary suspect jailed, linked to other prowling incidents
PALO ALTO -- Police arrested a suspect in the burglarizing of an occupied home in Palo Alto last week and are connecting him to three additional prowling incidents.
Palo Alto police said in a press release Friday that dispatchers received a call the evening of Feb. 20 about a residential burglary that happened at 2 a.m. on the 1300 block of Forest Ave. The victim told police they reviewed interior security camera footage showing a prowler entering the home while she was there with her husband and young child.
The suspect came in through a back door the victim said had not been locking properly, walked to the dining room, and picked up four handbags from the dining room table, leaving through the back door, police said. Police said the value of the four handbags totaled more than $10,000.
Detectives believe the burglary may be connected to four other prowling cases reported to Palo Alto police the day before. In each case, the residents noticed the suspect on video footage hours after the incidents occurred. Police said all of the cases happened between 3 and 4 a.m. on February 19 at occupied residences in the 3800 block of Nathan Way, the 3500 block of Ross Road, and the 700 block of Christine Drive.
Officers began saturating residential neighborhoods and investigators eventually identified a possible suspect, police said. A search warrant was obtained for the Palo Alto home of 28-year-old Cristien Patrick Connors. Police said officers found the four stolen handbags at Connors's home on the 3100 block of Middlefield Road as well as other evidence tying him to three of the four other prowling cases.
Connors was arrested without incident and booked into the Santa Clara County Mail Jail in San Jose on four felony counts, one count of residential burglary, and three counts of attempted burglary.
Anyone with information about this incident wais asked to call the Palo Alto Police Department 24-hour dispatch center at (650) 329-2413. Anonymous tips can be e-mailed to paloalto@tipnow.org or sent via text message or voicemail to (650) 383-8984.
