11.14.22 – Palo Alto Online
Police do not believe this burglary is connected to a series of dinnertime break-ins happening around Palo Alto, but it certainly is a weird one.
A man was arrested for allegedly stealing a vacuum cleaner from a home in Palo Alto’s Ventura neighborhood on Friday afternoon, police said Monday.
The home’s resident, a woman in her 80s, called police at 1:32 p.m. about a burglary at her home in the 400 block of Fernando Avenue, according to a press release.
The woman heard a noise on the first floor and went to see what it was. She saw a man climbing the stairs to the second floor and she screamed, according to police. The man ran out of the home and the resident called dispatchers.
Officers believe the man, later identified as a 23-year-old from Santa Clara, broke a glass panel on a rear door to get into the home, police said. He then allegedly rummaged through part of the home and stole the vacuum cleaner, according to police.
At 3:18 p.m., an officer spotted the man on the east side of El Camino Real near Fernando Avenue. He ran across El Camino Real and went onto the grounds of the Creekside Inn, police said.
Motel staff directed police to the man, who was on a fifth-floor balcony, according to police. Officers said they arrested him without any trouble. They allegedly found him with part of the woman’s vacuum cleaner, police said.
Police believe the burglary is unrelated to the recent “dinnertime burglaries” in Palo Alto. Thieves have been stealing valuables such as jewelry from homes during dinnertime, according to police.
Anyone with information about Friday’s burglary is asked to call the department’s 24-hour dispatch center at 650-329-2413. Anonymous tips can be emailed to paloalto@tipnow.org or sent by text message or voicemail to 650-383-8984.