Crime & Safety

Vine Hill Road Burglary Victim Comes Forward

Two homes in Santa Cruz County are broken into in September and on Oct. 18.

The victim of an Oct. 18 burglary in the Los Gatos/Santa Cruz Mountains on Vine Hill Road has come forward to report that his neighbors across the street where also hit in September.

Jeffrey Kernan, who lives just north of Scotts Valley off of Highway 17, reported the additional break-in in his neighborhood has only added insult to injury with the suspects using the same modus operandi.

The burglars committed the crime on a Friday afternoon stealing his laptop computer and a jewelry box. Kernan said he's trying to piece together more details about his case.

Kernan may have an upper hand on the criminals ... or not.

He said he acquired images and a GPS location of a suspect who is still in the Bay Area but outside of Santa Cruz and Santa Clara counties.

The suspect has been ID'd and confronted by authorities and was charged with possession of stolen property ... in this case his laptop computer.

The suspect claims he only purchased Kernan's stolen laptop computer on the night of the burglary, Kernan said.

By the time authorities confronted him, he had already sold Kernan's computer.

Thanks to a program installed on the machine, Kernan now has an image of another individual that subsequently acquired his computer and a new GPS location in yet another city.

Unfortunately, the investigation on his stolen laptop is slow to non-existent, he said.

"It would have been nice if the police had been able to move at the speed I was feeding them information close to real time," he lamented. "I don't want to compromise this investigation as I have been told the first suspect is still being investigated as a possible crime suspect and, hopefully, not just for possession of stolen property."

Kernan said he's been told by law enforcement personnel they need a warrant to get GPS tracking on the suspect's cell phone but that it will take some time.

"I want this crime spree to come to an end with a meaningful arrest. But if it takes forever to get a warrant, the thieves are laughing all the way to the bank," Kernan said.

More than 10 burglaries have been reported on both sides of the Mountain, which are being investigated by Santa Clara and Santa Cruz sheriff's deputies.

The Los Gatos/Monte Sereno Police Department is not responsible for patrolling the area where the robberies have occurred.

The first one occurred Sept. 27 on Stagecoach Road with two dogs being beaten and more than $10,000 in valuables taken such as electronic items and jewelry.

The other crimes have taken place on Montevina Road, Brush Road, Adams Ridge Drive, Iron Springs Road, Quail Ridge Road, Black Road, Bear Creek Road, Summit Road and Manzanita Road.

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