18-Year-Old Suspect Jailed In Daytime Morgan Hill Burglary
MORGAN HILL (CBS SF) -- An 18-year-old woman was arrested during an attempted burglary on Saturday afternoon in Morgan Hill, police said Monday.
A teenage resident on Tilton Avenue reported a burglary in progress to police at 3:45 p.m. She said she saw an unknown woman in her backyard and heard a window breaking.
The resident locked herself in the bathroom while waiting for police, and officers arrived to find the suspect still inside the house.
"She could hear the suspect inside her home, breaking the window entering the home and then ransacking each room and as officers set up outside, the officers came out the front door," said Sgt. Bill Norman of the Morgan Hill Police Department.
Norman said the resident made all the right moves.
"She stayed on the line with us. She stayed calm as much as she could, she described what was going on, what she heard, she tried to stay as quiet as possible to not alert the suspect to what was going," he said.
The suspect attempted to exit the house from its front door carrying a bag of stolen property including jewelry and other goods, but she was quickly taken into custody after she attempted to run away, police said.
The suspect, 18-year-old Jessica Esparza Andrade, was also captured on the home's surveillance system. Morgan Hill detectives said they suspected Andrade of being under the influence.
Andrade was treated for injuries she suffered while entering the house through a broken window and was booked into Santa Clara County Jail.
Police said she was arrested on suspicion of multiple felonies, including burglary and possession of stolen property.
Morgan Hill residents said they weren't surprised by the crime because the city has changed since turning into a bedroom community of Silicon Valley.
"It's getting a little bit worse than it used to be. The most we had were kids racing up and down the street," said Sandi Flansburg.
Police said the timing of the crime was abnormal, since burglaries in the area are usually committed during week days as people are at work and not on weekend afternoons.