SAN MATEO — Three East Bay residents suspected of multiple vehicle burglaries were arrested Wednesday night after a pursuit from San Mateo to unincorporated Alameda County, police said Thursday.
The trio is suspected of at least one vehicle break-in Wednesday night but police said property found in the car they were driving indicates they may be responsible for numerous others in the city and possibly other areas of San Mateo and Santa Clara counties.
The suspects were identified as Alexandria Chambers, 20, of Hayward, who was driving the vehicle being chased, Anthony Dennis 22, of Oakland and Richard Hardman, 20, of San Leandro.
Officer Michael Haobsh, the San Mateo police public information officer, said Thursday that because of a rash of vehicle burglaries, mainly window smashes, police had put together an auto-burglary suppression unit that was working Wednesday night to patrol several “hot spots.”
About 8 p.m. Wednesday a citizen reported a vehicle burglary in the 4300 block of Olympic Avenue, one of the hot-spot areas, and gave police a description of the 2009 Honda the suspects fled in. Members of the suppression team soon spotted the car in the Marina Plaza Shopping Center and it refused to stop for officers, Haobsh said.
The vehicle pursuit went over the San Mateo Bridge and into unincorporated Alameda County in the Hayward area where the suspects got out of the car and tried to flee on foot but were soon captured.
Haobsh said the suspects’ DNA and fingerprints would be compared with those found at the scene of other burglaries to see if they are linked.
Dennis and Hardman were arrested on suspicion of second degree burglary, possession of stolen property, possession of burglary tools and conspiracy to commit a crime. Chambers was booked on evading police, second degree burglary, possession of stolen property and conspiracy to commit a crime.