Fair Oaks Man Bluffed Neighbor Into Burglary Confession

New details emerged in a local residential burglary that brought officers to the home of a Fair Oaks couple with multiplying legal problems.

When a local man’s Walnut Hills Way home was burglarized the night of Feb. 3, the 38-year-old victim narrowed his own personal list of suspects to one man: Jason Rasher, a neighbor living less than a stone’s throw across the street.

According to the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department, the victim had had a few strange encounters with Rasher, 31. Sheriff’s spokesman Deputy Jason Ramos said Rasher told his neighbor he’d seen people come through the neighborhood casing the victim’s home and asking questions about it, even saying he once chased some would-be burglars off with a gun.

So when someone kicked in a rear door leading into the victim’s garage and ransacked his home a few days later, the Fair Oaks man felt he knew who was responsible.

“He just had some weird interactions with this dude across the street,” explained Ramos, adding that the victim didn’t immediately contact authorities about the break-in.

Instead, the man hatched a bold ruse and confronted Rasher, telling him he knew the neighbor was behind the burglary and that he had the video surveillance to prove it.

“The victim tried to bluff him,” Ramos said. “And the bluff worked.”

Rasher admitted breaking into his neighbor’s home and stealing various possessions. Rasher turned over some DVDs, while the victim-turned-sleuth pondered how to collect more proof for law enforcement. He decided to write out a letter for Rasher to sign, a letter spelling out Rasher’s guilt, itemizing the possessions that were stolen and pledging Rasher to pay back $2,000 in damages and stolen property.

“And he signed his name to it,” Ramos said of Rasher.

That’s when the burglarized homeowner finally contacted authorities, and matters took another turn.

On Feb. 12, sheriff’s deputies went to Rasher’s home to interview him about the burglary. Rasher’s wife, Lisa, answered the door and told the deputies her husband wasn’t home. The deputies asked if they could check to make sure and she allowed them to enter, Ramos said, apparently unconcerned about them finding anything incriminating.

Deputies didn’t see anything pertaining to their burglary investigation.

A day later, Jason turned himself in to officers at the Main Jail in Sacramento for the burglary.

As for why Rasher broke into his neighbor’s home in the first place, Ramos said a supposed phone call from Lisa to the victim might provide some answers. According to the victim, Lisa told him her husband only resorted to the burglary because the victim never offered to help the unemployed couple out financially.