malq
Veteran Member
Lots more here on the boneheads historyAfter John and Susan Maloney and their two young children died in a crash on Highway 37, news crews flocked to their street in Sonoma. A memorial of flowers sprung up on their doorstep, and pictures of their three-bedroom home were featured on TV.
Among those who followed the story, authorities believe, were a Redwood City man with a history of grand theft and his girlfriend.
Smelling opportunity, the couple drove 70 miles to Sonoma, broke into the dead family's empty house, ransacked it of jewelry, electronics and financial records and drove off in the Maloneys' 2006 Nissan 350Z, police said Wednesday.
Michael Vincent Gutierrez, 26, and his girlfriend, Amber Marie True, 29, were arrested Tuesday, just hours after a neighbor discovered the garage door to the Maloneys' home wide open.
Inside, the house was a mess. "Drawers had been opened and turned over. Bookcases had been turned over, things had been pulled off walls," Sonoma Police Chief Bret Sackett said. "Doors had been kicked in."
The burglars even rifled through rooms belonging to the Maloneys' children, Aiden, 8, and 5-year-old Gracie, who died with their parents when a speeding teenager ran a red light and broadsided their minivan Saturday night.
In his 20-plus years in law enforcement, Sackett said, he assumed he had seen everything. "But this certainly was a new low for me and, I think, for everybody else investigating this case," he said.
San Mateo police arrested True after pulling her over for a routine traffic stop on South Delaware Street at Concar Drive about 4 p.m. Tuesday. An officer found she had a suspended license, and when police searched her and her car, they discovered a credit card belonging to Susan Maloney, 42, said police Capt. Kevin Raffaelli.
Further checking revealed that jewelry and a Blu-ray DVD player in True's car also belonged to Susan and John Maloney, 45, Sackett said. Shortly after True was arrested, San Mateo County sheriff's deputies drove to a home she shares with her uncle on rural Marine Road off Skyline Boulevard just south of Highway 92.
No one was there, but when deputies returned at 9 p.m., they found the Maloneys' stolen Nissan outside, said acting sheriff's Lt. Wes Matsuura.
Investigators stopped Gutierrez when he left the home at about 9:40 p.m. in the car, Matsuura said.
Police believe that most, if not all, of the items taken from the Maloneys' home have been recovered, Sackett said.
True and Gutierrez were each arrested on suspicion of burglary and vehicle theft. They are being held at Sonoma County Jail in lieu of $500,000 bail and are expected to appear in court today.
The Marine Road home is surrounded by redwoods. Visitors are greeted by two carved wooden bears and a sign reading, "Welcome to Camp 'Grin and Bear It.' "
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/12/03/BAOG1ATQCT.DTL
what heartless tards, they are running around with their stolen stuff hours after the tragedy. "A family just died, lets go rob them"....tweaks
