REDDING – Eyeglasses and sunglasses, unless purchased at a discount store, are pricey items these days, and a convicted burglar out on probation thought he could make some easy money by robbing an optometrist’s office. And for six months he thought he had gotten away with it.
Back in June of this year, on the morning of Sunday the 16th, Redding police received a report from the office of Thomas E. Ward, Optometrist of a burglary. Responding officers found the window of the front door had been smashed in by a rock, and brand new sunglasses and eyeglasses had been stolen. The business reported that the missing merchandise was valued at over $19,000.
Fountain Plaza, where the office of Thomas E Ward OD is located.
Redding detectives investigated the scene, and were able to recover several fingerprints that seemed to be left by whomever had broken in. The prints were analyzed by crime scene technicians, who found a positive match with Michael Lopez Jr., a 30-year-old on probation for burglary. However, Lopez is a transient, so picking him up at the time was not a possibility.
Patience paid off, as Wednesday morning police spotted the wanted man enjoying a cup of coffee in the Eureka Way Starbucks, just half a mile from the scene of the crime. Lopez was brought in to the Redding Police investigations office for questioning. He fessed up to the theft, and shared that he had been with an accomplice, who has not been named. He was carrying a stolen credit card as well, along with a hypodermic needle he had used to inject methamphetamine. The glasses, however, were long gone.
The Eureka Way Starbucks, where Lopez enjoyed a cup of coffee, perhaps purchased with a stolen credit card, before he was apprehended.
Lopez was booked once again at the Shasta County Jail on charges of commercial burglary, possession of stolen goods, conspiracy, and his probation violation. Anyone with further information about this incident, like a great deal on some glasses they got this summer, is encouraged to call Investigating Officer Bishop at the Redding PD, at 530-225-4214.
