Burglary suspect charged after serving a prison term for a separate crime
34-year-old Clarence Dwayne Ardds was charged on March 26, 2014 for PC 459-460 (a) First Degree Burglary that occurred in Milpitas in 2011.
On March 28, 2011, the Milpitas Police Officers responded to a call reporting a break in and home burglary at 849 Berryessa Street in Milpitas. When officers questioned the homeowners, they said they had noticed that the front door to the home was open. When they entered the home, they saw that it had been ransacked. Drawers, clothing and electronics were thrown throughout the rooms, and one of the bedroom windows smashed. A screw driver was found in the back bedroom.
During a preliminary investigation it was believed that Ardds used the screwdriver to break the back bedroom window in order to enter the home. The victim reported seeing a black male in his 30’s casing the area some time before the break in occurred. A victim also stated that they had seen the suspect at their neighbor’s home before the break-in.
It was determined that once inside, Ardds ransacked the home to find jewelry, laptop computers, a television, and a safe. Because the suspect was unable to open the safe it was left on the sidewalk near the residence. The T.V. was also reported to be in the bushes near the residence by a neighbor. It had blood on the front screen, and was collected for DNA evidence. Digital images, and fingerprints of the suspect were also taken and booked into evidence.
On Aug 5, 2011 the Santa Clara Crime Lab had matched the DNA profile to Clarence Ardds and determined that his girlfriend lived near the residence at the time of the burglary, according to police records. The report concluded that Milpitas officers had been called to intervene in an argument between Ardds and his girlfriend sometime before the incident. The crime lab also determined that Ardds was currently in custody at Folsom State Prison.
Clarence Ardds in a Facebook image, dated 2006
Milpitas investigators, knowing that Ardds was expected to be released from prison, made contact with him on March 18, 2014. When asked about the break-in, Ardds said, “My next door neighbor had been robbed of his T.V. and some other stuff”. Ardds told the investigator that the T.V. was next to the bushes near his girlfriend’s home when they were walking to the store. Ardds said, “I went over there to grab it and she said, ‘No don’t grab it’”. That is when Ardds said he cut his hand on the cracked screen of the T.V., and that’s why they just left it. Ardds told investigators that his girlfriend called the neighbors to report seeing a T.V. in front of her home in the bushes. Ardds said that he and his girlfriend “went about their business and left it there”.
When asked how he knew about the burglary, he said that he saw the police and talked to a neighbor during the initial investigation by Milpitas police. But Ardds denied breaking into the home.
Ardds has a previous conviction under PC 211, Armed Robbery. He has also been charged and convicted of PC 29800, Possession of a Firearm out of Alameda County.
The next plea hearing has been scheduled for September 30, 2014 at 1:30 in Dept 35 at the San Jose Hall of Justice.
