Photo: Juan Bartolo Rios
Originally published as a City of Palo Alto press release – 
“Palo Alto, CA – Police arrested a man early this morning who entered an occupied home and then fled on foot after a resident confronted him. After the suspect stole a bicycle from the detached garage of a second home in an apparent attempt to flee the neighborhood, police spotted him, arrested him, and booked him into jail. No one was injured.
On Tuesday, January 18, 2022, at about 6:47 a.m., our 24-hour dispatch center received a call reporting a suspicious person inside a residence in the 400 block of Sequoia Avenue. The caller, a woman in her seventies, reported that her husband (also in his seventies) had just chased the unknown suspect out of their home with a baseball bat. Officers responded immediately and began to search the neighborhood for the suspect. One officer caught a glimpse of the suspect entering the unlocked side yard gate of a home in the 300 block of Sequoia Avenue, but after searching that yard, police found he had moved elsewhere. Officers continued the search.
At about 7:31 a.m., our 24-hour dispatch center received a call from a resident in the 1600 block of Escobita Avenue reporting that she had just found the suspect hiding in her detached garage. This victim, a woman in her forties, said that he had just stolen a bicycle from the garage and fled. At 7:32 a.m., officers safely detained the suspect without incident on the stolen bicycle on Portola Avenue at Miramonte Avenue.
The investigation revealed that the suspect had entered the home on Sequoia Avenue via an unlocked sliding glass door. The victims reported nothing was stolen from their home. After being chased out of that residence and hiding in the neighborhood, the suspect stole the bicycle from the garage on Escobita Avenue in an apparent effort to facilitate his escape. No other property was stolen from the home on Escobita Avenue.
Police booked the suspect, 44-year-old Juan Bartolo Rios of Redwood City, into the Santa Clara County Main Jail for residential burglary (a felony), prowling (a misdemeanor, for entering the yard in the 300 block of Sequoia Avenue without lawful purpose), and trespassing (a misdemeanor, for entering the detached garage on Escobita Avenue). His booking photo is attached to this release.
At this time, there is no known connection between these two cases and any others.”
