BY EMILY MIBACH
Daily Post Staff Writer
A Redwood City man who was charged yesterday (March 16) with stealing $13,000 worth of electronics and jewelry from a home was arrested after he showed up to his parole hearing wearing some of the stolen goods, a prosecutor said.
Police had already been tipped off that Victor Bell, 23, may have been connected with a home burglary that occurred on Feb. 23 on Stambaugh Street in Redwood City, said San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe. After the burglary, the victim got a notifi cation that someone was trying to log onto his stolen laptop.
The person who was trying to use his computer was later identified as a 14-year-old acquaintance of Bell, Wagstaffe said.
The victim then noticed that the 14-year-old’s photos were uploaded onto his Google Cloud account. Among the photos was one of the 14-year-old and Bell, who was wearing a bracelet stolen from the man’s home, Wagstaffe said. Additional photos show other items that were stolen and Bell is in some of the pictures, the DA said.
Bell has been on parole for a 2013 Menlo Park home burglary. When he showed up at his March 7 meeting with his parole officer, he was allegedly wearing several pieces of jewelry that were stolen from the home.
Police got a search warrant for Bell’s home, where they found more of the items stolen from the home on Stambaugh Street, and arrested Bell, according to the DA.
Based on security footage from the home, Bell had an accomplice during the burglary, but he has not been identified and the 14-year-old is not suspected, Wagstaffe said.
Bell was in court yesterday and charged with residential burglary. Since he is a second-striker, he could be sentenced to prison for this burglary, Wagstaffe said.
Bell is in jail on $50,000 bail and will be in court on March 29.
And the 2018 Dumb Burglar Award goes to …