House Cleaner Arrested For Allegedly Stealing From Peninsula Clients' Homes

SANTA CLARA COUNTY, CA – A housekeeper was arrested on Saturday for allegedly stealing from her clients' homes in Mountain View and could be connected with other thefts from her customers in the area, police said.

Sandra Cuoto, 39, was booked on suspicion of burglary, impersonation and violation of her probation.

A 36-year-old client of Cuoto's said she woke up on Wednesday and Thursday mornings to find that personal items and cash had disappeared from her home in the 1900 block of Montecito Avenue, in the Rex Manor neighborhood.

The victim claimed that her door had been locked and only Cuoto would have had access to the home.

Detectives allegedly found that Cuoto had stolen personal items, jewelry and cash from other clients' homes as well, police said.

"We have reason to believe there may be other victims. If Sandra Cuoto was employed as your house cleaner, and you were the victim of a burglary or theft, please call Det. Andrew Wong at 650-903-6389," the agency said.

The Mountain View PD offers some tips to help ensure that those employed to work in and around your home are certified in their jobs and licensed and insured:

1. Obtain referrals and recommendations from friends and family who have had the same housecleaner(s) for a long period of time.
2. Make sure your house cleaners are bonded and insured.
3. Make sure your house cleaners are licensed.
4. Check house cleaners on review sites such as Yelp and Angie’s List. Be careful when choosing new businesses and/or businesses with few reviews.
5. Conduct a phone interview with the house cleaner/company before inviting them into your home. Make sure to ask the house cleaners how long they have been in business and ask for recommendations.
6. Compare the cost of the service to what others charge. If the price is substantially lower, be wary. This is one industry in which the lowest bid is not necessarily the best bid.
7. Whether using a housecleaning service or an individual, find out which cleaner(s) will be cleaning your home. Make sure to find out if it will be the same cleaner(s) every time, if any additional cleaners will come, or if there will be different cleaner(s) every time.
8. Make sure to lock up your valuables, especially jewelry, cash and credit cards.
9. Consider getting an electronic lock with one-time use codes and give that code to the house cleaner. Change it after every visit. Be careful when giving a key to your housecleaner or telling them where the spare keys are kept.
10. Be concerned if you hire a cleaning company and the house cleaner wants you to make out a check to an individual. Also, be wary if you hire an individual and the house cleaner asks you to make out a check to someone else.

• ALSO SEE: Parking Space Spat Leads to Stabbing at San Mateo 7-Eleven

--Bay City News contributed to this report/Image via MVPD