Police Warn of Fake PG&E, Water District Repairmen

San Jose police this week released sketches of two of four at-large suspects seen committing several home burglaries last month while posing as utility employees with construction vests and hard hats.

Two of the burglaries occurred on March 20, one on Hostetter Road in North San Jose and one on Lochridge Drive in East Jose and the third on March 26 on Los Gatos-Almaden Road in southwest San Jose near Los Gatos,
police said.

 The suspects told the victims that they were employees of the Santa Clara Valley Water District or road construction workers for PG&E, according to officers.

They would then convince the victims to go into their back yards with one of the suspects and turn on a water hose while other suspects burglarized their homes, police said.

Witnesses have reported seeing four suspects, each donning yellow-orange colored construction vests and hard hats and holding radios to converse with one another in Spanish, according to officers.

The burglaries took place in the daytime between 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. The suspects were seen leaving in a white Chevrolet SUV or a white newer model 2000s Dodge four-door pickup truck with extended cab, police said.

Police released sketches of two of the suspected burglars based on descriptions furnished by witnesses.

One witness said a suspect was about 50 years old, of Middle Eastern or Samoan ancestry, 6 feet tall, weighing 200 pounds, and another was a Hispanic male from 30 to 35 years old and 5 feet 8 inches.

A second witness described a total of five suspects, including a Hispanic male about 50 years old, 6 feet 3 inches, 250 pounds with a shaved head and black beard; a Hispanic male about 30 years old, 200 pounds; a white
or Hispanic male in his 30s, 5 feet 6 inches with a thick black mustache; a man in his 30s, 5 feet 10 inches, full mustache and beard; and a Hispanic male in his 40s, 6 feet 1 inch and 300 pounds.

A third witness recalled two suspects, a Hispanic male 5 feet 9 inches to 5 feet 11 inches tall, heavy set with short hair and a Hispanic male adult 5 feet 7 inches high and skinny.

The Police Department is asking anyone with information about the crimes to call (408) 537-1316, or to remain anonymous, phone the Crime Stoppers tip line at (408) 947-7867.