Palomar Mountain News

From: David Ross [mailto:editor@valleycenter.com]

DEPUTIES NEAR TO ARRESTING SUSPECT IN PALOMAR MOUNTAIN BURGLARIES

VC Sheriff’s detectives are close to arresting a subject in the series of July 4 burglaries of vacation homes on Palomar Mountain. “We have him positively identified,” Sgt. Bob Bishop told The Roadrunner this week. “He’s an East County guy with no connection to North County.” This is of some interest since many residents on the Mountain had their own theories as to who was behind the series of burglaries. None of their suspicions turned out to hold water upon investigation, said Bishop. People who had been under suspicion turned out to have ironclad alibis and each one was eliminated as a possible suspect.

 “He found an area that was ripe for the picking. We also believe that the suspect is involved in a series of burglaries in East County,” he said. DNA identification greatly helped in positively identifying the suspect, although a lot of the credit goes to many long hours of detective work by deputy Dwane DiBene of the VC station.

According to Bishop, the first thing DiBene did was isolate when the burglaries occurred. The one thing they had in common was vacation homes on the Mountain’s East Grade, near Conifer Road, all within two miles of each other. The homes were all isolated and not visible from the road. “You could walk on the property and no one would see you,” he said.

Items taken were things you would find in a vacation cabin, such as hunting clothing, guns and cameras. “DiBene worked the case like a dog,” Sgt. Bishop declared. He talked to everyone he could. “Finally word got out to enough cops that someone passed on a tidbit.” Information from a “source of information” (commonly known as a “snitch”) led to a suspect whose DNA is on file with the system from previous arrests.

That same DNA was left behind at some of the crime scenes. The analysis of DNA samples for lower priority cases such as burglaries is now becoming more common because it is less expensive-they just don’t have the same priority as a homicide case. During their investigations the detectives took a series of DNA swabs at the crime scenes. Several weeks later reports on those swabs came in and matched the information from the informant. Sheriff’s deputies hope to make an arrest within days, said Bishop.

 — Regards, David Ross Editor Valley Roadrunner 760-749-1112

“I can handle big news and little news. And if there’s no news, I’ll go out and bite a dog.”