Palo Alto Occupied Home Burglaries Probed

PALO ALTO, CA – Police are investigating an attempted burglary early Sunday morning at an occupied home, the fourth such occurrence of this nature the city has seen in the past two weeks, Palo Alto police said.

The unknown suspect is at large, police said.

Detectives are investigating any possible links between the cases and whether similar crimes have been reported in other cities.

Police said it is not known whether four Palo Alto cases are related.

In response to these incidents, police are increasing patrols in neighborhoods during the overnight hours.

The most recent incident occurred at the1100 block of Fulton Street, police said. The incident was reported at around 5:25 a.m.

The victim, a woman in her seventies, reported that she had been awakened by the sound of “rattling” at her back door.

When she went to investigate, she heard the sound of someone running from her side yard and immediately called police.

The investigation revealed that the unknown suspect had accessed the rear yard of the victim’s property via an unlocked side yard gate.

The suspect removed two screens from windows and appears to have slid open a window left ajar that did not have a security rod preventing it from opening fully.

No entry was made into the home.

Police searched the neighborhood with a canine from the Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety but could not locate the suspect. There is no surveillance video.

In the previous three overnight burglaries reported in the last two weeks the residents were asleep and discovered personal property missing when they awoke.

There have been no confrontations between suspects and residents, and there is no evidence that the suspects have entered occupied bedrooms.

The previous incidents occurred in the 1100 block of Hamilton Ave on Oct. 22, and at the 700 block of Gailen Ave. and the 3800 block of Nathan Way (both on Oct. 11).

Despite this recent spate of overnight residential burglaries, such cases are extremely rare in Palo Alto, police said.

Most residential burglars commit their crimes during the day, when homes are unoccupied and the chance of a confrontation with a resident are correspondingly reduced.

Police recommend that residents with side gates at their homes put locks on them to prevent easy unauthorized access to their property.

Residents who choose to hide a key outside your residence in the event they get locked out should recognize the potential risk. As an alternative, residents should leave a spare house key with a trusted neighbor.

Anyone with information about this incident is asked to call the Palo Alto Police Department's 24-hour dispatch center at 650-329-2413.

Anonymous tips can be e-mailed to paloalto@tipnow.org or sent via text message or voice mail to 650-383-8984.

Tips can also be submitted anonymously through the PAPD's free mobile app, downloadable at www.bit.ly/PAPD-AppStore or www.bit.ly/PAPD-GooglePlay.