Three men were arrested last week for allegedly conspiring to steal gardening equipment in the San Gabriel Valley, police said.
At around 1 p.m. on Friday, officers were patrolling in the 2300 block of Roanoke Road in San Marino where they spotted a car without license plates that had multiple people inside, said a statement from the San Marino Police Department.
Officers found that the driver, 34-year-old Altadena man Cesar Jimenez, was on probation and under post-release community supervision for burglary as well as having an outstanding warrant from another jurisdiction. They said that he had prior arrests for stealing gardening equipment.
The front-seat passenger, identified as 30-year-old Los Angeles man Jesus Rodriguez, was on parole for assault with a deadly weapon against a peace officer or firefighter, police noted.
“An officer on scene recognized this individual as a suspect arrested by San Marino PD in a prior gardening equipment theft,” said the department’s statement. “This subject was also recognized by detectives as a suspect wanted in a gardening equipment theft case in another jurisdiction and arrests for possession of burglary tools.”
Police arrested all three of car’s occupants and conducted a search of the vehicle where they found a box of gloves, face masks, finger covers, bolt cutters, a drone and a neck gaiter.
At the time that they first came in contact with the men inside of the car, police said there were to gardening trucks close by.
“Based on the information discovered, it is believed the three suspects conspired to commit grand theft of gardening equipment,” police said.
All three were booked on suspicion of conspiracy to commit grand theft and possession of burglary tools, police said. A probation hold and parole hold were obtained for Jimenez and Rodriguez, respectively. The third suspect, who was not identified by police, was later transported to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Inmate Reception Center.
