A maintenance worker was arrested Thursday after he was photographed by a surveillance camera burglarizing a Palo Alto apartment in the complex where he worked, Palo Alto police said Saturday.
The burglary was reported Wednesday just before 6 p.m. when a woman discovered her apartment in the 300 block of Curtner Avenue had been broken into while she was at work, according to Palo Alto police Officer Ron Harris.
The woman had installed a surveillance camera after a previous burglary. The camera, triggered by a motion sensor, had automatically emailed her photos of the suspect in the apartment.
The suspect had stolen both a digital music player and the surveillance camera, but not before it had sent the pictures, police said.
There were no signs of forced entry into the apartment.
The next day, police took the photos to the property management company, where an employee recognized Victor Adrian Martinez-Lopez, a painter.
Martinez-Lopez was not scheduled to do any work at the victim's apartment complex, the company said, and had no business entering occupied apartments. He also did not have any keys to any of the apartments, management officials said.
Martinez-Lopez, a 28-year-old Hayward resident, was arrested Thursday around 5 p.m. in the 900 block of High Street, and was found with the music player in his possession, police said.
He was booked on a charge of burglary, and was found to be on probation for a conviction in Alameda County for driving under the influence, police said.
