Peninsula Police Search For Man Who Stole Wood Planks From Parks

SAN MATEO, CA — In what the San Mateo Police Department is describing as “wood-be” thefts, several wood planks were stolen from park benches and picnic tables at two Peninsula parks last week.

Authorities described the wood that was stolen as “good quality wood” that is approximately six feet long and added that several hundreds of dollars of damage was done to city property.

The first theft was reported on Mar. 15 at Ryder Court Park in San Mateo when a parks employee found a bench missing a plank. The next day, planks were stolen from three more tables and benches at the park.

On Friday, at Beresford Park in San Mateo, three picnic tables and two benches had planks stolen. Police said that the suspect disabled a park security camera, but that at 12:49 a.m., it had already captured an image of a person of interest. The person is described as a light-skinned male wearing a baseball cap, yellow plaid button down shirt, a greenish jacket and dark pants. He also had a black bag.

Anonymous crime tips can be submitted to http://tinyurl.com/SMPDTips or by calling the Secret Witness line at (650) 522-7676. Please reference case 21-0316-009 and 21-0319-005.