Man Caught in Garage—in Someone Else's Car

Their car was inside their open garage—but a stranger was inside their car.

When an Aliso Viejo couple spotted a man sitting inside their car earlier this month, the husband chased him through the St. Moritz apartment complex, Sgt. D.J. Haldeman said. His wife called police.

Deputies used dogs and a helicopter to search for the suspected car thief, but it was a neighbor that tipped them off to the location of Wuesli Davile-Valenzuela, 25.

Haldeman said Davile-Valenzuela knocked on a woman's apartment door. The woman answered and he rushed inside and hid in the bedroom. The woman ran out of her apartment, tracked down a deputy and told him where the suspect was hiding.

When deputies arrested Davile-Valenzuela June 14, he had car keys from a vehicle previously reported stolen that was left on the 73 toll road near the apartments, Haldeman said.

Sheriff's deputies charged him with felony burglary and possession of stolen vehicle, Haldeman said.