Mountain House Residents Still On High Alert After Suspect In String Of Burglaries Arrested

SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY (CBS13) — Residents in the unincorporated town of Mountain House are still on heightened alert although a suspect has been arrested for a string of car burglaries in the area.

Dhirenda Prasad shared surveillance video from Wednesday night which showed the thieves moving quickly through the neighborhoods, breaking into Prasad's two Mercedes-Benz cars and his Ford truck.

Within seconds, they moved down the street in the Wicklund area to the home of Nalini Achal.

"This is the first time I've experience something like this," said Achal, whose minivan and Prius were damaged with broken windows. It must be a gang for sure."

Also on Wednesday night, only a mile away in the neighborhood of Bethany Village, as many as seven vehicles were burglarized.

Sheriff's deputies fried multiple reports for damages and going door to door.

"We were woken up by the police at about 11:30 at night. They said, 'Come with us...we have a rash of break-ins,'" Ken Larson said. "They just looked like they went through really quickly to see what they could get and moved on to the next car."

On Thursday, Livermore police arrested Santino Jesse Guevara-Lozano for 17 car burglaries in Livermore and 20 in Mountain House. It's not clear if he was working alone.

Some residents said Mountain House rarely sees crime like this, but it appears to have changed in August when the San Joaquin County Sheriff's Department reduced the number of deputies from eight to two in order to cut costs.

As deputies were relocated to other parts of the county, the community of Mountain House hired two private security patrols. Despite that, however, Breanna Garcia says it's likely there was little police could do in this case as she pointed behind her in the direction of the street with no lights.

"No matter how many cops are here, stuff's going to happen -- especially when we have no lights right here where they were happening," she said.

The sheriff's office says it's continually addressing calls for service and have seven to 11 deputies patrolling Mountain House during a 24-hour period.