Quick thinking leads to arrests in Golden Triangle burglary attempt

The notoriously convoluted streets in the nearby Golden Triangle neighborhood have a reputation for safety, but in the past year, the neighborhood has fallen prey to numerous burglaries.

On Aug. 25, three burglars stole jewelry and a wad of foreign currency from a house located on Thelma Avenue, but with the neighbors’ quick actions, two suspects, a 19-year-old woman from San Jose and a 22-year-old male from Oakland,  were arrested.

At around 11 a.m., the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office received a call from a woman who reported to seeing a few males creeping into her neighbor’s side yard and a woman sitting in the driver’s seat of a white sedan parked out front in the 200000 block of Thelma Avenue, according to the San Jose Mercury News.

Sgt. James Jensen, a spokesman for the sheriff’s office, told Mercury News that even though the deputies arrived in minutes, they failed to find the suspects there.

A total of 44 deputies and detectives arrived at the scene, including several K-9 units. Some members of the investigation force diverted their attention to a nearby neighborhood a couple blocks down.

At around 1 p.m., junior Swetha Srinivasan was walking home after school, only to be stopped by around seven deputies parked at the entrance of her street. They told her to lock the doors, close the windows and stay put in her house.

“This is when I got sort of scared,” Srinivasan said. “Of course I didn't want to be that annoying teenager that wants to know everything, so I just told [the deputy] I would and continued walking.”

During the same time, alumni Mihir Samdarshi and his mother had just returned home from running errands, when a deputy updated them that two men suspected of burglary were still loose, hiding somewhere in their near vicinity. While his mother went to put away the groceries, Samdarshi decided to look for broken windows and check for ripe vegetables in their backyard garden.  

Upon entering his backyard, Samdarshi came face to face with one of the suspects, who was standing under the squash lattice next to the shed.

“For a second, I was stunned, because I didn’t expect him to be there,” Samdarshi said. “[As] he bolted out the side backyard door, I yelled, ‘Right here! Right here!’”

His quick cry for attention informed nearby deputies to take action.

A deputy positioned at the junction between Old Tree Way and Braemar Drive ran in Samdarshi’s direction and reported to his radio that “he had a visual.” After, Samdarshi returned to his home and later learned from a deputy that they had tracked the suspect down to Merribrook Drive.

  As the deputies placed handcuffs around the suspect’s wrists at a bus stop, a woman approached them and confessed to her involvement in the burglary and was also handcuffed.

The two were sent to Santa Clara County Main Jail while facing charges of burglary and conspiracy. A third suspect, “who is wanted by multiple agencies for various crimes, including robbery,” fled the scene and has yet to be found.

The day after, Samdarshi and his father planned to drive down to Los Angeles to start Samdarshi’s college move-in process, leaving behind his mother and sister alone in the house. Samdarshi said their family was a bit worried and scared, so his mother bought a pair of locks for the side yard doors.

Though locks add a level of protection and security, Samdarshi ultimately believes that burglaries may be unavoidable.

“To be honest, I don't think people can do anything [to prevent a situation like this]; it either happens or doesn't happen, Samdarshi said.

Reflecting back on the event, Samdarshi said he thinks the use of a 44-person team stemmed from the affluent nature found in Saratoga.  

Even though he thinks the large officer force may have been unnecessary, Srinivasan was grateful for the deputies’ presence.

“Whenever people see the police, they always think of it as a sign that something bad happened,” Srinivasan said, “but during this incident I realized that them being there gave me a lot more closure than anything.”

 

The sheriff's department said it could not comment on ongoing investigations but confirmed that the burglary occurred.