Scotts Valley police catch a thief red-handed

Quick response and some patient police work in Scotts Valley last week resulted in a suspected thief being caught almost red-handed.
Scotts Valley Police Sgt. Justin Milroy reported that employees of a local pharmacy on Nov. 29 spotted two men in the store with large shopping bags that were lined with aluminum foil.
He said the clerks became suspicious because such lined bags are often used by shoplifters to disable the theft detectors at the store entrance. ”It’s commonplace,” he said.
One of the men also attempted to avoid detection by holding a filled bag over his bag as he left the store, but the alarms went off anyway.
Milroy said the store manager called police and followed the two men to the parking lot, where he saw them loading the bags into a minivan driven by a third man. Awaiting police, the manager watched the men drive the minivan to another section of the parking lot, then leave and walk away.
Milroy said that when officers arrived in a few minutes, they parked where they could see the minivan.
After short period of time, one of the men returned and drove the minivan away, and police followed him into the nearby Spring Lakes community,
At about 4 p.m., the driver, apparently spotting police, parked the minivan and jumped out, pretending to be jogging in the neighborhood. The man, Milroy said, “attempted to run from our officers,” but was caught and arrested as he tried to jump a fence.
Police recovered the minivan with approximately $2,700 worth of merchandise – razors, over-the –counter cold and allergy medicines and other small, higher-price items.
The two other men involved in the alleged scheme were not located.
The suspect gave a false identify, but was later identified as 23-year-old Javier Castillo, a San Jose resident who was on probation out of Santa Clara County. In addition to providing a false name, Milroy said he refused to identify the others who helped him with the theft.
The stolen merchandise was listed and identified and returned to the business.
Castillo was later released on $25,000 bond after being charged with obstruction of a police officer, giving a false identity, possession of stolen property, possession of burglary tools and conspiracy to commit a crime.