Auto burglary suspects arrested after crashing near police station

MOUNTAIN VIEW >> A trio of Concord men was arrested on suspicion of auto burglary in Mountain View on Wednesday night after they tried to evade police and ended up crashing into a sign near the back entrance of the police station, authorities said.

Detectives were conducting surveillance in the area of Charleston Road and Rengstorff Avenue about 8 p.m. when a black Mercedes-Benz pulled into a nearby parking lot, said Mountain View police spokeswoman Katie Nelson in a news release Thursday.

Nelson said a passenger got out and looked inside vehicles. He then got back into the Mercedes, which drove to another lot and parked. A few minutes later, the car pulled out and started to drive away.

Additional patrol units were summoned to help stop the Mercedes. The driver did not yield to the officers and instead crashed into a parking sign at the dead end of Oak Street, which also happens to be the rear entrance of the police department, Nelson said.

Nelson said officers arrested the three occupants of the Mercedes — identified as 22-year-old Christian Cervantes, 18-year-old Joel Castro and 22-year-old Kevin Juarez — after finding burglary tools and property that had been taken from a vehicle in Sunnyvale.

Cervantes was booked into Santa Clara County jail on charges of burglary, conspiracy to commit a crime, reckless driving and hitand-run. He is being held on $1 million bail.

Castro was booked on charges of burglary, conspiracy to commit a crime and possession of burglary tools. Juarez also was booked on charges of burglary and conspiracy to commit a crime. Bail for Castro and Juarez was set at $300,000 and $1 million, respectively.

“When we say our detectives work around the clock to prevent crime and solve cases, we mean it,” said Mountain View police Lt. Frank St. Clair in the news release.