Los Angeles County Criminal Lawyer Blog

The Los Angeles Times reports that a 44-year-old Los Angeles Police Department sergeant has been charged with burglary after allegedly breaking into a person's home.

Now, deputies in San Bernardino County are reviewing their open cases to see if he could be a suspect in other burglaries, the newspaper reports.

It is a common strategy for police departments to investigate a person it believes has committed one crime and try to link them to others in the area. We have seen this practice in other alleged burglary in Los Angeles cases as well as in other alleged crimes.

Los Angeles criminal defense attorneys who have years of experience in handling a significant number of burglary cases are prepared to defend suspects facing these charges. A defendant must not be linked to other crimes that he or she had nothing to do with.

Under California Penal Code 458, burglary is defined as entering a dwelling with the intent to commit grand larceny, petit larceny or another felony. Under the law, a person found guilty of burglary can face punishment of up to at least six years in prison.

According to the newspaper, the sergeant broke into a woman's house and was confronted by her, spraying him with a hefty dose of pepper spray, which is designed to ward off bears. After returning from a walk with her dogs, she saw the man, screamed and ran away. The man allegedly followed her, when she turned and unloaded the pepper spray on him.

"He was pursuing me," the woman told KLTA. "I'm really, really scared."

When the 18-year police veteran crashed his car nearby after stumbling off, police allegedly found jewelry, cameras and camera equipment inside his vehicle that belonged to the woman. They say he reeked of pepper spray.

Now that he has been arrested, police are looking into whether other local, unsolved crimes could have been his handiwork. The officer has been released on bail, and the woman said she is living at an undisclosed location to avoid the officer.

Unfairly or not, detectives in property crimes will look at suspects they arrest and try to determine whether the person is tied to other crimes. Even if they don't have recovered stolen property, they may try to say that the "means and motive" and vague descriptions of the suspects are similar enough to warrant an arrest. This is where an experienced Los Angeles criminal defense lawyer should be contacted.

In situations like these, a lawyer must be able to dig into the evidence the state intends to use at trial and be able to use that to get prosecutors to drop or reduce charges. Seeing through the detectives' case can save the defendant from dealing with enhanced penalties and more charges than are warranted.