Teens arrested for car burglary spree

Scotts Valley police arrested three teenagers from Soquel early Monday morning, Oct. 17, after receiving reports of suspicious people and vehicle burglaries in the Skypark and The Vineyards neighborhoods.
At about 2 a.m., a Skypark resident found that someone had rummaged through his vehicle, saw several other vehicles with their interior lights on and spotted three people in dark clothing leaving the area on foot.
Soon afterward, police stopped a vehicle occupied by Decheng Huang, 19, and two younger boys, ages 16 and 14. All three were arrested after a search uncovered marijuana, laptop computers, GPS devices, phones, identification cards and credit cards in the vehicle, Sgt. Mark Lopez said.
Seven vehicles in the Skypark and Vineyards neighborhoods were reportedly burglarized and several more were rummaged through, Lopez said, with reports still coming in Tuesday, Oct. 18.
All of the vehicles were unlocked.
“Unfortunately, there are a lot of people that think Scotts Valley is a completely safe place, so they don’t think they need to lock anything,” Lopez said. “And criminals know that.”
Lopez urged people to lock their vehicles and be as proactive and vigilant as possible when it comes to suspicious activity, saying that the quick report by the Skypark resident led to the teens’ arrest.
“We need everybody’s help,” Lopez said. “(Police) can’t be everywhere at once.”
In May and June, Scotts Valley saw another rash of vehicle burglaries. Some of those thefts were tied to a group that was selling methamphetamine.