Suspected Burglar May Be Tied to 44 Break-Ins Since January

A suspected burglar arrested by sheriff’s deputies Thursday may have been responsible for as many as 44 break-ins at South Bay area small businesses since January, detectives believe.

Deputies from a burglary investigation team who had been following John R. Jaramillo, 22, of San Pedro arrested him early Thursday morning after they watched him and an accomplice smash a window at a San Pedro market and run off with a cash register, Detective Dick Gill said.

After their arrests, Jaramillo and the other man, Robert J. Lucero, 20, of Torrance, implicated a third man, Carlos M. Molina, 19, of Long Beach in several of the burglaries, Gill said. All three are being held in lieu of $5,000 bail at the Lomita sheriff’s station. A fourth suspect is still at large, Gill said.

Investigators plan to present their case to the district attorney’s office Monday.

Deputies began tailing Jaramillo about three weeks ago after a Lomita sheriff’s station crime analyst, Elizabeth Rodriguez, pieced together a license plate number from witnesses’ descriptions of a car used in the series of burglaries.

The car, which belongs to Jaramillo, was allegedly used for burglaries at cleaners, florists, cafes, markets, beauty shops and other small businesses in Redondo Beach, Rolling Hills Estates, Palos Verdes Estates, Torrance, San Pedro and Wilmington, Gill said.

Jaramillo allegedly has confessed to 33 of the 44 break-ins, which involved roughly $13,000 in losses.