He Was Wearing The Same Clothing As In The Surveillance Footage
SAN JUAN BAUTISTA—Detectives with the San Benito County Sheriff’s Department have arrested a 23-year-old man in connection to a rash of commercial burglaries that have plagued the little town of San Juan Bautista for weeks. The suspect, Manuel Pacheco, is behind bars tonight at the San Benito County Jail because police spotted him walking while wearing the same clothing from the surveillance tapes.
Manuel Pacheco
The investigation started on September 4, when San Benito County Sheriff’s Deputies responded to two separate burglaries and two attempted burglaries. On September 11 the same suspect, believed to be Pacheco, broke into five commercial buildings on Third Street in the early morning hours.
Police stated that Pacheco attempted to burglarize a sixth commercial business on the same street but was unsuccessful. But bad news for Pacheco, investigators were able to obtain fingerprints and clear surveillance footage from the business.
Early Friday morning, September 12, while detectives were canvassing the area, they received word of a burglary that was occurring on Fairview Road. Then, as detectives were finishing up their investigation of the burglary, they received a call of another burglary occurring on the 200 block of Third Street.
As they drove up to the scene, they encountered Pacheco, who was walking in the area of the crime wearing the same clothes from the video from the previous burglaries.
Investigators searched Pacheco’s apartment and found some of the stolen property.
When deputies tried contact Pacheco he bolted on foot and could not be located. Deputies found his vehicle with items from the previous burglaries still in it. Deputies also searched his home in Hollister, and found even more items from the other burglaries.
“This was possibly one man or more, going from store front to store front forcing the doors open and taking whatever they could grab quickly.” San Benito County Sheriff’s Captain Eric Taylor said.
He was taken into custody that day and booked into the San Benito County Jail. The investigation is still on going.
