Alert Residents Help Police Nab Burglar Suspects

Within a span of four days last week, alert Roseville residents were key in helping police nab multiple suspects in connection to regional home burglaries and car thefts.

Residents provided “key information that it took to find these people,” Roseville Police Chief Daniel Hahn said Monday afternoon. “Our role is to solve problems and often times we will do this in collaboration with community members.”

Seven arrests were made from Sept. 18-21 linked to numerous thefts throughout the city – all made with the help of residents and witnesses.

In one case, a resident noticed a suspicious black BMW and wrote down the license plate number. Roseville Police had been searching for that black BMW for a couple weeks, alerted neighboring police departments of the plate number and found the suspects at Thunder Valley Casino. The and investigated for four residential burglaries in Roseville and three others in the Sacramento region.

In another case, someone reported a man acting suspiciously around a car in a hotel parking lot. Roseville Police arrived and arrested a 26-year-old Antelope man who police suspect is dating back to early 2010.

These multiple suspects were “responsible for really causing havoc in our city,” Hahn said. “It was imperative that we catch these folks.”

Hahn said these recent arrests were part due to a “very good week,” but also because of increased communication within the police department. The communications and crime analysis department has expanded, a regular police activity newsletter is distributed to subscribers and both day and night officers are kept in the loop of what to be on the lookout for.

“Everybody is fully aware of what’s going on,” Hahn said. “The community and neighbors need to know that that’s going on in their neighborhood when it’s going on.”

Alert residents helped in these seven arrests:

• Sept. 18 – Shortly after midnight, an alert witness noticed someone on North Sunrise Avenue and called police. The car the suspect was driving had been stolen from Folsom and he was in possession of stolen property from several vehicle burglaries in Roseville and Lincoln. The Antelope man is now being investigated in connection with at least 17 vehicle burglaries in the region that date back to early 2010.
• Sept. 19 – A suspicious black BMW was seen on Black Bear Street in Roseville and an alert resident wrote down the license plate number; a burglary had occurred on that street. Roseville officers were already looking for a black BMW in connection with other residential burglaries. With the help of neighboring law enforcement, the suspects, Breanne Lee Rasmussen and Stephan Makarov, were located at Thunder Valley Casino and were detained for shoplifting in one of the gift stores. The couple is being and three others in the Sacramento region.
• Sept. 20 – Observant neighbors reported suspicious people who had been The two male suspects were arrested and are being investigated in connection with three house burglaries in west and northwest Roseville.
• Sept. 21 – An observant neighbor remembered seeing a suspicious vehicle with a distinctive sticker on it in west Roseville at the time of a recent burglary. An officer remembered seeing that same vehicle and had interviewing the occupants on an unrelated call. Officers contacted the suspects, arrested them and recovered some of the property taken in the burglary.