Angelo James Saunders
PALO ALTO — A not-so-happy would be bike thief was caught by the Palo Alto Police after a call from a concerned residence reported a person acting suspicious. According to Palo Alto Police Sergeant James Reifschneider, “On Monday, November 7, 2016, at about 12:52 p.m., our 24-hour dispatch center received a call of a possible bicycle theft in progress at the bike racks in the CalTrain parking lot near the corner of Alma Street and Lytton Avenue.”
The suspect 24-year-old Angelo James Saunders of Coulterville was seen trying to cut off a bike lock with a power tool. Kryptonite U locks are meant to warn off a thief with a 70% theft proof package. But this bike thief was set to break the lock by disarming it with a battery-powered circular saw.
According to Reifschneider, “Officers responded immediately and found the suspect using a battery-powered circular saw to remove two Kryptonite locks from a Cannondale CAAD12 road bike valued by the victim (a man in his twenties) at $1200.”
This was not the first-time Saunders had found himself in trouble. A record check revealed that Saunders was wanted on a misdemeanor warrant out of San Mateo County for possession of burglary tools and possession of narcotics. He was also found to be on probation for burglary in Alameda County.
Once the suspect was taken into custody it was found that he was also in possession of methamphetamine and was under the influence of narcotics. Saunders also had a driver license of another individual with multiple burglary tools including the circular saw, needle nose pliers and wire cutters.
Saunders was booked into the Santa Clara County Main Jail for the arrest warrant, and for attempted grand theft (a felony), possession of narcotics, possession of burglary tools, appropriation of lost property (the driver license), and for being under the influence of narcotics.
