La Mesa Police Arrest Residential Burglars

La Mesa Police have arrested two men in connection with the burglary of a residence in the 4400 block of Carlin Place.

The suspects were 22-year-old Jose Mercado-Gonzales from Imperial Beach and 22-year-old Jeffrey Thomas from El Cajon.  Both suspects were booked into San Diego County Jail on one charge of residential burglary, and two charges of conspiracy.

On Tuesday, at around 10 a.m., La Mesa Police received a report that two subjects parked their vehicle in the 4400 block of Upland Street and began walking around looking at residences.  One resident in the area saw this suspicious activity and notified the police. 

Before the officers arrived to Upland Street, police say the subjects had returned to their vehicle and driven off the street. 

Officer Daniel Paugh responded to the area and began looking for the vehicle and the subjects in the neighborhood.  Officer Paugh found the vehicle as it was leaving the area and stopped it to investigate the suspicious activity. 

While he had the vehicle stopped, La Mesa Police received a 9-1-1 call from a resident on Carlin Place (two blocks from Upland), who said she had just seen two subjects inside her home and she believed she had been burglarized. 

It was later determined that the subjects Officer Paugh had stopped were the two subjects casing the area and who burglarized the residence on Carlin Place.

Bail for both Mercado-Gonzalez and Thomas was set at $50,000. Arraignments for both are scheduled for Thursday, May 24 in El Cajon Superior Court.

This case is another example where an early report of suspicious activity by a citizen, helped the police apprehend these burglars.