Police Arrest Three Teens After Trio of Burglaries

Police credited an alert neighbor with helping to catch three teenage burglary suspects last week, according to information released by the city on Thursday.

Authorities linked the group to three different property crimes, in Berkeley and Albany, last Wednesday.

On June 15, according to a statement prepared by Lt. Dan Adams, a woman walked outside her home, near Sonoma and Peralta avenues, to find three boys loitering outside her door.

"She felt suspicious because they did not appear to have had a reason to be there, and asked her about her dog when she surprised them by coming outside," Adams said. 

The woman called police, and the teens fled, dumping a backpack as they tried to run, according to police. Detectives questioned the boys, ages 13 and 14, who "claimed to be on the way home from school."

Police found the backpack and traced some of its contents to a home nearby that had just been burglarized. 

Police arrested the three teens on suspicion of burglary and possession of stolen property, Adams said. 

Berkeley police connected the same group to a GPS unit stolen from a vehicle not far away. 

"The victim from that crime had driven through the area looking for a suspicious group of teens after a witness told her who they saw around her car," said Adams. 

She had come across the boys, police said, "going through a woman's purse in the street." She took the purse from them and got in touch with its owner, and learned that the purse had been taken a short time earlier from a parked car in the 1600 block of Sonoma.

Police released the three boys, who were not Albany residents, to their parents, with notices to report to the probation department about their case. 

Police said it was the alert neighbor, who took the time to "report the suspicious situation right away," that led to the arrest. 

Residents can report any suspicious activity to the Albany Police Department at 510-525-7300. Sign up for city emails here on the city website.

Everybody makes mistakes ... ! If there's something in this article you think should be corrected, or if something else is amiss, call editor Emilie Raguso at 510-459-8325 or email her at emilier@patch.com.