Police tie group of six men to burglary spree
Suspects accused of smash-and-grab heists from Bay Area to Gold Country
SANJOSE » A group of men who crashed into the front gates of Travis Air Force Base while fleeing police lastmonth has been tied to scores of minimart burglaries targeting rolls of Lotto Scratchers spanning from the South Bay to Gold Country, authorities said.
One of the six suspects has already pleaded guilty to nearly three- dozen smash-and-grab heists. Two others are still being sought by police.
Those were among the new details of the multi agency investigation into the Dec. 20 military-base crash and arrests revealed exclusively to this news organization this week. Until now, authorities had not identified the so-called “Lucky Lotto Bandits” or described the extent of their alleged criminal scheme.
“These were crimes of opportunity in the
early morning hours, targeting local mom-and-pop stores,” said San Jose police Lt. Eduardo Pedreira, commander of the agency’s burglary unit. “Many of these businesses were hit multiple times.”
The Bandits’ alleged ringleader was identified as Jared McEssy, 21, of San Jose, who pleaded guilty to 32 break-in thefts, 30 of which were reported in 2017, plus two in 2016. Investigators say 20 of the burglaries occurred in San Jose. McEssy entered the plea in exchange for an eight-year prison sentence, according to authorities and court records.
Three other men have been arrested as part of the alleged burglary crew: Alexander Castillo, 21, of San Jose; and 19-year- old Stockton residents Alexander Rosiles and Roque Soto Sierra. Castillo is being held at the Santa Clara County Main Jail on a parole violation from a previous burglary conviction. Rosiles and Soto Sierra are both out of custody.
Authorities have ob- tained arrest warrants for two other suspects still being sought: Sergio Beltran Jr., 21, of Stockton, and 18-year- old Sergio Aguirre. Beltran was among those arrested after the crash at the air base, but he was released before charges could be filed.
The arrests and warrants cap a five-month investigation that began in September, led by SJPD Detective Ashley Weger and involving officers from Santa Clara and Campbell police, the Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety, the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office, and the California Lottery’s security and law- enforcement division.
The prolific nature of the break-ins, and repeated threads— predawn hours, a rock used to smash a front window followed by the ransacking of Lotto scratchers, cigarettes, cash, and in some instances, entire cash registers— prompted investigators to suspect a common group of suspects. Surveillance video and images taken during the breakins helped police narrow it down to the six men, Weger said.
They were also commonly seen in a white Mercedes-Benz SUV, and then a black Chevrolet Tahoe.
“We communicated that with the other departments,” Weger said.
In the early morning hours of Dec. 20, Santa Clara detectives spotted the Tahoe after getting reports of two commercial burglaries in the area near where North San Jose meets Santa Clara, including a minimart on North First Street.
The detectives followed the SUV when it got on the freeway all the way to Fairfield, where the vehicle stopped at a gas station off Interstate 80, authorities said. The detectives contacted Fairfield police to make the arrest since itwas in their jurisdiction.
But once the suspects spotted police, the SUV sped away, sparking a chase that was eventually taken over by deputies with the Solano County Sheriff’s Office. The SUV crashed through the main gate at Travis Air Force Base, prompting a lock- down of the base. The suspects abandoned the vehicle and tried to run off, but were rounded up quickly.
A sawed-off shotgun was found in the vehicle, but so far there is no indication it was used in any of the burglaries or thefts, Weger said.
Following the arrests, more painstaking work cross-referencing the suspects, surveillance images, and other evidence ensued. Once Weger got a fuller picture of the “Lucky Lotto” group’s reach, it read like a driving tour through the East Bay, Central Valley and Gold Country.
“Los Altos, Fremont, Livermore, Dublin, San Ramon, Danville, Brentwood, Tracy, Rio Vista, Elk Grove, Rancho Cordova, Calaveras County,” Weger said, reeling off the suspects’ alleged burglary trail.
That footprint doesn’t include the stolen tickets that were cashed — there were bound to be winners within the voluminous scratcher rolls — in San Jose, Brentwood, Discovery Bay and Stockton.
Pedreira knows in his line of work that burglary crews account for a disproportionate amount of break-ins, so the arrests in this case will likely have a big impact in the community.
“We made a huge dent in what appeared to be a weekly or even daily thing, for several weeks,” he said.
Police Chief Eddie Garcia said that with staffing increases anticipated, he hopes to build on the 8 percent decrease in burglaries recorded between 2016 and 2017, in part with a bolstered burglary unit he hopes to launch in 2018. Currently, just a handful of detectives handle burglary investigations for a city of 1 million residents.
“These kinds of cases can’t be solved just by being reactive,” he said.
For Weger, the case re- inforced the importance of merchants and residents reporting every burglary they encounter, even if it doesn’t lead to a swift resolution. Some owners did not cooperate, she said, but those who did gave investigators a series of dots they could eventually connect.
“It could be another piece to the puzzle,” she said. “One case alone might not be strong enough, but matching them with other cases completed the puzzle.”
Anyone with information about the Lucky Lotto Bandit case can contact the SJPD burglary unit at 408277- 4401 or leave a tip with Silicon Valley Crime Stoppers at 408- 947- STOP or svcrimestoppers.org.