Orinda Police Blotter: Too Gassed To Drive; Stealthy Motoring; Blatant Burglary

Orinda Police Blotter March 25 – April 14

Drunk in Public

Around 10 p.m. on April 8, Orinda Police responded to a call from a Chevron gas attendant regarding a patron who seemed too intoxicated to drive. When officers arrived, they found a 30-year-old Orinda man with red watery eyes, slurred speech, unsteady gait and an odor of alcohol. When the officers gave him a preliminary alcohol-screening test to measure his blood alcohol level, he registered at 0.24 percent.

The man was arrested for public intoxication and booked into the Martinez detention facility and his Toyota Tacoma now sits at Orinda Tow.

Misdemeanor: Driving With the Wrong License Plate, Suspended Driver's License, and Someone Else's Car.

A 53-year-old Fairfield man was stopped by Orinda police at 2:08 p.m. on March 26 on Camino Pablo Way southbound for a traffic violation of having no front plate. Oddly enough, the rear plate showed a registration of a car belonging to Mehta Enterprises, a business in Fairfield.

When confronted by the police, the driver admitted he had changed the license plate on the car to avoid being stopped and having the car towed for a lack of registration.  He told the officers he had recently purchased the car but was unable to show any proof of ownership. He was also driving with a suspended driver's license.

The driver was arrested for the misdemeanor and the car was towed by Orinda Police.

Stolen Vehicle: "OnStar, Where's My Car?

An Orinda man reported early the morning of March 13 that his Chevy Tahoe SUV was stolen. The man had parked the car in front of  McDonnell Nursery in the 190 block of Moraga Way from 9 a.m. to 12:15 p.m., with the doors unlocked and keys on the floor board. Luckily the Tahoe had OnStar, an in-car security system with access to the car's location using GPS.

When OnStar was called, officers were able to locate the car - unoccupied - at Moraga via/Woodcrest.

Residential Burglary: Two houses in one swoop

Orinda residents have been perplexed and concerned by reports of multiple burglaries in their neighborhoods during daylight hours.

On March 25, Orinda Police were called out to investigate a report of someone breaking into a home on the 1100 block of Las Vegas Boulevard. When officers arrived at the scene, they not only discovered one home, but another home across the street was thoroughly ransacked as well.

Investigation determined that someone entered the home of an 81-year-old woman who was unable to walk due to a medical condition. The intruders turned off the electricity at the main fuse box to the rear of the house and entered the home through a sliding door, ransacking the home from 10 a.m. to 11:47 a.m. The residents are working on a list of items stolen to give to the police.

As officers canvassed the area, they noticed that the home across the street had its front doors wide open.  When they entered the home, they found the burglars had ransacked the inside and caused significant damage to the back, master bedroom sliding glass door.