Ledger-Dispatch

By Scott Thomas Anderson (sanderson@ledger-dispatch.c= om)=20 - Bill Lavallie=20

A Lexus parked on Water Street in = Jackson was the=20 third vehicle in two hours to have its window shattered in order = for=20 thieves to take items inside.

Photo by: Bill Lavallie

23-year-old David Garcia of Modesto was = arrested=20 at the Jackson Rancheria shortly after three cars were broken = into. He and=20 a partner later admitted to committing the crime

Photo by: Bill Lavallie

Twenty-four-year-old Librado Madrigal = of Ceres=20 was also arrested at the Jackson Rancheria along with = Garcia.

Photo by: Bill=20 Lavallie
The city of Jackson became a = harder target=20 than expected for a team of alleged burglars after their "smash and = grab"=20 larceny spree ended with two of them surrounded by law enforcement. =

June=20 16 started as a typically peaceful morning in the county seat. However, = that=20 changed dramatically after 11:30 a.m. when the suspects approached a PT = Cruiser=20 parked behind The Kitchen Store on North Main Street. Despite a = relatively open=20 view from highway 49/88, the nearby gas station and Main Street, they = proceeded=20 to shatter the car's window and grab a purse inside. The act was = witnessed by a=20 citizen who called the Jackson Police Department with a detailed = description=20 ofthe suspects and their vehicle. While the police were investigating = the first=20 incident, the would-be thieves were spotted at the parking lot of Mel = and Faye's=20 Diner destroying another vehicle's window in order to steal yet another = purse.=20 By 12:42 p.m., a third report came in that a Lexus parked on Water = Street had=20 also been broken into. In that case, the group stole a bank bag full of = endorsed=20 checks.

Having a fairly good description of the suspects, the = Jackson=20 Police Department put out a BOLO (be on the lookout) alert to = surrounding=20 agencies. The Jackson Rancheria's security officers soon located two of = the men=20 at the casino, having just eaten lunch at the Raging River Buffet.=20

Before the men could exit, they found themselves surrounded by a = number=20 of Jackson police officers and Amador County deputy sheriffs. Taken into = custody=20 were 24-year-old Librado Madrigal of Ceres and 23-year-old David Garcia = of=20 Modesto. Both admitted to breaking into the three vehicles.

A = short time=20 later, the California Highway Patrol in Calaveras located one of the = stolen=20 purses in Calaveras County. It belonged to an employee of Mel's Diner - = the=20 victim of the robbery incident in that business's parking lot. =

According=20 to Mel's owner Bart Gilman, his employee didn't even know her car had = been=20 broken into until the CHP called her at work.

"She didn't even = realize=20 that it had happened until that point," Gilman said. "She was inside = here=20 working."

The discarded purse found in Calaveras County led law=20 enforcement to believe there were more suspects involved than just = Madrigal and=20 Garcia. After questioning the two, it was revealed that two other = suspects were=20 involved in an accomplice vehicle, which is described as a mid 1990s = black Honda=20 Civic with a "NORCAL" sticker on the rear window. The investigation is = still=20 under way.

For Jannie Williams, who owns The Kitchen Store next = to where=20 the first break-in took place, the incident was alarming. "It's hard to = believe=20 that happened in broad daylight," she said. "It does seem like crime has = gone up=20 around here lately. It's getting pretty scary."

Scott Thomas = Anderson