One Escapes, One in Custody After Burglaries on Talbot

Police detained two young men who appeared to be in the process of burglarizing a Talbot Avenue home Friday afternoon after a neighbor tipped off authorities about activity she considered suspicious. 

One of the apparent thieves dove out a window and escaped police, after officers surrounded the home into which the young men had retreated, in the 900 block of Talbot.

Police arrested the other person, a 17-year-old from Berkeley, without incident, said Detective Sgt. Dave Bettencourt of the .

Bettencourt said police received a call around 1 p.m. from a resident on Talbot who noticed two young men going into her neighbor's side yard. 

Several Albany police units responded, and set up a perimeter around the home. 

The two young men tried to leave the area, and police told them to stay put, said Bettencourt. Instead, they went back inside the house. 

Police were able to arrest the 17-year-old, but the second young man dove out a window and was able to get away. 

Police set up a perimeter in the area with the help of Berkeley police, but soon afterward received word from another local resident that the other suspect had managed to evade police and get outside the perimeter before it was established. 

[UPDATE, July 17: The resident told Albany Patch that the young man was spotted wearing an iPod on Masonic Avenue using the Ohlone Greeway to leave the area.]

Police found that the house next door to the home where they found the young men had also been burglarized, and are investigating whether the crimes are connected. 

In one of the homes, the rear back door had been forced open; in the other, the back door had been left unlocked. 

Bettencourt said the second young man was described only as a black male juvenile with dark pants and a white shirt; he asked members of the public to reach out to police if they noticed anyone of a similar description running through the area or otherwise acting suspicious Friday afternoon. 

Bettencourt credited the Talbot Avenue neighbor with helping police get to the burglary scene quickly. 

"I don't think the officers would have encounted these two and interrupted them if she hadn't called," he said. "We probably wouldn't know about it until the residents came home and found their house had been burglarized."

Police ask anyone with information that may be relevant to crimes in Albany to call 510-525-7300.

If there's something in this article you think , or if something else is amiss, call editor Emilie Raguso at 510-459-8325 or email her at albany@patch.com.