On Thursday, April 28, at 10:35 p.m., officers noticed a man acting in a suspicious manner in the 1600 block of Appian Way, and so they attempted to speak with him, but this man hid, and eluded the officers for several minutes.
The officers then saw the man reappear near the chess park, this time with another suspicious character. They were both riding bicycles, and both in violation of a Santa Monica Municipal Code. The officers made an attempt to stop these two again, but again the men ignored the police. After a few moments the second man stopped, but the first one fled a second time, eastbound on Arcadia Terrace. Other officers later detained this man on the corner of Ocean Avenue and Colorado.
The officers investigated and found that both bikes that these men were riding were stolen. The owners of the bikes happened to return to their home in Appian Way at that moment and identified the bicycles. The officers removed bolt cutters, as well as the cut lock from the area of the residence. The officers also discovered that the first man was in possession of many documents belonging to other people, including bank account information.
Both of these men were arrested and taken to jail. The first man, a 45 year-old transient, was charged with possession of stolen property, obstructing and resisting officers, not having a bicycle headlight, possession of burglary tools, and appropriation of lost property. His bail was set at $10,000.
The second man, a 38-year-old transient, was charged with possession of stolen property, possession of burglary tools, not having a bicycle headlight, and multiple warrants. His bail was set at $56,308.
Editor’s Note: These reports are part of a regular police coverage series entitled “Alert Police Blotter” (APB), which injects some minor editorial into certain police activities in Santa Monica. Not all of the Mirror’s coverage of incidents involving police are portrayed in this manner. More serious crimes and police-related activities are regularly reported without editorial in the pages of the Santa Monica Mirror and its website, smmirror.com
