Two Burglary Suspects Caught

Officers caught one suspected burglar jumping the fence and found the second hiding in the bushes when they responded to a burglary alarm at an insurance office on Auto Center Drive just after 5 a.m. Saturday, reported. 

Two Watsonville men—Gerado Isaac Tapia, 22, and Ariel Cruz Ramirez, 25—were arrested on suspicion of commercial burglary, possessing burglary tools and stolen property, and resisting arrest.

The men allegedly broke into McSherry, Hudson and Hall Life and Health Insurance Agency at 575 Auto Center Dr. through a venting fan on the side of the building and took computers, cameras and other items, according to Watsonville police.

The first officer to arrive after the alarm call reportedly spotted Tapia on the side of the building. Tapia fled, but the officer chased him through the property and caught him as Tapia tried to clear a fence, police said.

Some of the stolen property allegedly was found in Tapia's pockets when an officer frisked him, police said. Other items were in the dirt alongside the office building. Officers checking out those items searched nearby and found Ramirez concealed inside a large bush, police said.

Both men were booked into Santa Cruz County Jail. The stolen property was returned to the business, police said.