May 30-June 6: Fair Oaks Man Suspected in Attempted Break-In

Scrap charge

A Fair Oaks man and his believed accomplice were arrested peddling away from the scene of an attempted break-in last Tuesday night in Rancho Cordova.

Two men later identified as James Williams, 27, of Fair Oaks and Todd Karayianes, 37, were spotted near the back gate of Your Energy Source, a solar heating and air conditioning business, by an employee who was working late that night, said Deputy Jason Ramos, spokesman for the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department.

The witness reported seeing Williams cutting through the fence with bolt cutters, a sheriff’s department report states. Authorities surmise the two men were targeting the large amount of scrap metal lying behind the business, located in the 11000 block of Sunrise Gold Circle.

Ramos said the two men were scared off when the employee exited the building to do further inspection and confronted them. The suspects fled on bicycles, and were later stopped peddling away from the business’ location by a sheriff’s unit.

“When contacted by the deputy, they were detained without incident,” Ramos said of the suspects.

Deputies found bolt cutters in Williams’ backpack. He was charged with possessing burglary tools, being on private property and probation violation.

Sacramento Superior Court online records contain no information on a James Williams being arraigned on those or related charges since his May 31 arrest.

Karayianes was cited for prowling and released at the scene.

Justice unlikely

Despite a victim identifying one of his attackers, the Memorial Day beating and robbery of a homeless man roughly five miles west of Fair Oaks could very well go unsolved, sheriff’s officials confirmed.

The sheriff’s department’s robbery bureau is currently inundated with open cases in which weapons were used and/or large sums were stolen, Ramos explained. By contrast, the May 30 robbery of a 46-year-old Sacramento homeless man by six individuals resulted in neither serious injury nor a monetarily significant loss of personal property.

“In the grand scheme of things, quite honestly, it’s very low on the list of priorities, with respect to robberies,” Ramos acknowledged.

According to a preliminary annual uniform crime report compiled by the FBI, there were 115 fewer robberies in Sacramento city last year than there were in 2009, when 1,606 were reported. There were 44 fewer reported cases in Elk Grove.

The sheriff’s department is eyeing the potential loss of more than 60 deputies under proposed cuts before the Board of Supervisors, however, which could have even more of an impact on which cases are actively investigated.

According to a sheriff’s department report describing the May 30 robbery, the victim was attacked by six subjects in the 5700 block of Auburn Boulevard around 10:30 p.m. that Monday night. The victim knew at least one of his attackers, whom he described to deputies as a 6-foot, 175-pound 34-year-old white male. The suspect’s name was not revealed in the incident report, and he hadn’t been contacted by deputies as of Tuesday.

It appears that robbery wasn’t the primary motivation for the attack, as the six subjects hit and kicked the victim before one of them said something to the effect of: “Hang on, let me get his wallet,” Ramos said.

The suspects fled on foot and a search of the area ended with negative results, the report states. The victim suffered only minor injuries in the attack and did not require medical attention.