May 15-23: Vacant Hazel Avenue Properties Targeted

Demolition Fan

A Fair Oaks man sabotaged a would-be burglar’s attempt to ransack two vacant properties Sunday afternoon.

The 30-year-old resident of the 5000 block of Hazel Avenue heard a loud noise coming from the boarded-up property nearby, according to a report from the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department.

Department spokesman Deputy Jason Ramos explained that the county owns the vacant residence, which is slated to be demolished as part of a .

The Fair Oaks man saw a male later identified as 35-year-old James Fuchs exit the residence and enter the house next door, which is also vacant. The concerned resident, who contacted authorities, watched as Fuchs made a run for it out of the second home when officers arrived.

“Fuchs was arrested without incident, when a deputy chased him as he fled through the backyard,” Ramos said in answer to a question. “In Fuchs’ backpack, he had bolt cutters, a copper tube cutter, a socket set, and a pry bar.”

The report described those tools as “commonly used in burglaries.”

Fuchs was booked into county jail on charges of burglary and possession of burglary tools. No record of his arraignment was available online Tuesday, though Ramos said he had already made an appearance in Sacramento Superior Court.

Sunday Schooled

A former student went back to his high school alma mater for the wrong reasons early Sunday morning, when a silent alarm tipped sheriff’s authorities off to a break-in at Casa Robles High School in Orangevale.

, which sits eight miles northeast of the Fair Oaks campus, was a darkened ghost town when its silent alarm was set off at 12:45 a.m. Sunday. The intruder had used a master key to enter the school’s various buildings, according to a sheriff’s report of the incident.

Officers arrived eight minutes after the alarm was triggered to meet the burglar as he was preparing to leave the Oak Avenue campus. Detained was 21-year-old Daniel Vargas of Orangevale, who claimed he was a former student (Class of ’08) who was given the key by a friend who worked as part of the custodial staff, Ramos said.

Vargas had a backpack in which officers found two projectors and an iPod MP3 stereo player.

“He said that he took them from various classrooms,” Ramos said.”

Vargas was booked into county jail on charges of burglary and possession of burglary tools, and has already made at least one court appearance, according to Ramos.

He arrived at the school on a bicycle, Ramos added.