20-Year-Old Suspect Arrested In More Than 50 San Mateo County Residential Burglaries; Guns, Ammo Seized
REDWOOD CITY (CBS SF) -- A lengthy investigation into a series of residential burglaries in San Mateo County has led to the arrest of a man believed responsible for more than 50 burglaries.
The San Mateo County Sheriff's Office said detectives along with South San Francisco Police detectives obtained a $5 million arrest warrant for 20-year-old Francisco Cruz-Ramirez following a year-long investigation.
Cruz-Ramirez was arrested on April 18 in the city of Modesto on 53 counts of residential burglary, all of them occuring in San Mateo County, the sheriff's office said.
According to San Mateo County District Attorney's Office, California Highway Patrol Officers attempted a traffic stop on Cruz-Ramirez and he led them on a chase before crashing his vehicle and injuring himself. He later fled the hospital but was located and taken to jail, the DA's office said.
As part of the investig,ation, detectived seized eight rifles, three shotguns, two handguns, ammunition, a bullet-proof vest, and several pieces of stolen property, the sheriff's office said.
The DA's office said Cruz-Ramirez's primary modus operandi was to shatter the homes' sliding glass doors to gain entry, and that five of the homes were occupied at the time.
Approximately $2 million in property was stolen, including more than 100 firearms, the DA's office said.
Cruz-Ramirez was booked into the Maguire Correctional Facility in Redwood City and was scheduled to be arraigned on April 29.
This investigation is ongoing and anyone with information on Cruz-Ramirez was asked to contact Detective Scott Benitez at 650-363-4067 sbenitez@smcgov.org or Detective Daniel Chiu 650-363-4057 dchiu@smcgov.org.