On Friday, March 15th, a Palmdale man was arrested on suspicion of burglarizing a Neenach home the day before. According to reports, the incident occurred at around noon in Neenach. It began when the resident of the home received a notification on his cell phone sent by his home’s video surveillance. The notification included footage of an unknown person snooping around the home. The homeowner then called a neighbor to go over and check it out. When the neighbor confronted the suspect, the suspect stated that his family lived in the home, then quickly left.
Once the victim returned to his home, he called police and told them that some items in his bedroom appeared to have been moved and rifled through, while other items were missing completely. Thanks to his home surveillance footage, he was able to provide SCV Sheriff Station deputies with information about the suspect’s appearance, his vehicle, and his license plate number. Using this information, police tracked down the vehicle the next day. Upon conducting a search, they discovered some of the victim’s missing items in the suspect’s vehicle, after which he was arrested on suspicion of burglary and taken to the Santa Clarita Sheriff Station to undergo booking and processing.
Burglary is covered under California Penal Code 459 PC and is described as entering any structure, room, or locked vehicle with the intent to commit a theft or felony once inside. The crime of burglary is “complete” when a person enters a structure, room, or locked vehicle with criminal intent-regardless of whether they were actually able to commit a crime inside the building.
Burglary is divided into two parts: first-degree burglary and second-degree burglary. First-degree burglary is charged when the structure involved in the crime was a residence. Second-degree burglary is charged when the structure involved is a business or some other structure that does not meet the requirements for first-degree burglary.
First-degree burglary is always a felony and the potential penalties include 2 to 6 years in California state prison. Second-degree burglary is a “wobbler” that can be charged as either a misdemeanor or a felony depending on the circumstances of the case and the defendant’s prior criminal history. Misdemeanor charges carry the possible penalty of up to 1 year in county jail, while felony charges can result in 16 months to 3 years in county jail.
