Deputies have arrested a resident suspected in five burglaries that were reported at businesses in downtown San Juan Bautista that happened overnight between Wednesday and Thursday, according to the sheriff’s office.
Deputies on Friday arrested Manuel Pacheco, 23, on suspicion of the crimes, according to a sheriff’s statement.
The burglaries were reported in downtown San Juan, said Capt. Eric Taylor with the sheriff’s office, who could not confirm all the businesses that were victimized in the string of crimes. Before that string of five burglaries, along with another attempted burglary that same night, there had been two other burglaries in San Juan the prior week.
Taylor said someone kicked in the front door of the businesses and pried open their cash registers this latest time around. Investigators responded for the initial report and ended up finding other businesses on the strip burglarized as well, he said.
He said investigators have surveillance from one of the businesses, including video of the person opening a register. Deputies also recovered fingerprints at some of the locations that will be sent to the California Department of Justice, Taylor said.
Two of the businesses included Mission Cafe and Mom & Pop’s Saloon, he confirmed.
Investigators had their break in the case when they responded to another burglary report Friday on Fairview Road. After video evidence confirmed it was the same suspect as the night before, deputies received yet another call of an attempted burglary in San Juan and responded. There, they encountered Pacheco walking while wearing the same clothes from the video, the sheriff’s office alleged.
The suspect initially got away, but deputies found him and stolen property from the burglaries while executing a search warrant of his home. Investigators also had found his car with evidence inside, according to the sheriff’s statement.
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