Emanuel Melendez and Guadalupe Sam Pedro
Of all the issues shared by anyone who employs a cleaning service or a housekeeper who comes into a home is the element of trust. Those who provide those services necessarily have access to a homeowner’s private spaces, security systems, and personal property. When trust is violated between the parties, trouble often ensues.
Such is the case involving the September 25th arrests of Chatsworth residents 31-year-old Guadalupe Sam Pedro and 32-year-old Emanuel Melendez by detectives of the Thousand Oaks Police Investigations Bureau on multiple charges of burglary, conspiracy, and attempted burglary.
According to Ventura County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Detective Jason Louis, the arrests followed a September 14 report of jewelry missing from a Thousand Oaks home in which Sam Pedro had worked as a housekeeper.
The ensuing investigation revealed that the company providing cleaning services to the victims’ residence in 2013 had fired Sam Pedro that year “after she was caught stealing from clients’ homes.”
During the course of their investigation, detectives determined that the victims of the September 14th theft “kept a hidden key” on the premises and had not relocated it since Sam Pedro had worked at the home four years prior.
As this case was being researched, additional burglary victims who had at one time employed Sam Pedro as a housekeeper surfaced, prompting the Thousand Oaks Special Enforcement Unit to locate her. Upon contact, Emanuel Melendez was identified as her “male companion” and likely accomplice.
A search of the suspects’ vehicle revealed “numerous pieces of jewelry” stolen from multiple victims, whereupon both Sam Pedro and Melendez were arrested and transported to Ventura County Jail for booking upon the aforementioned charges.
Photos: Courtesy Ventura County Jail
