When people commit a burglary, the police often struggle to catch these individuals because they sneak into a house when nobody is home, take all the items, and leave. In many cases, they leave evidence behind that identifies them as the intruders.

Other times, they will sneak in in the middle of the night when the people are asleep, take something, and they're able to get away before the people wake up and can contact the police.

Many of these burglary crews are very difficult for the police to catch.  However, I encounter cases all the time as a criminal defense attorney where people are being charged with burglary. There are no eyewitnesses identifying them inside a home, and they have not been caught with any of the property related to the burglary. California Penal Code 459 defines the crime of burglary.

Powerful Investigative Tools Used By Police

So, the question becomes, how is it possible that they're being prosecuted for a burglary?  I have family members calling, saying they illegally arrested my significant other.  I don't understand.  They didn't catch him inside the house, and he is being charged with burglary.  What they don't realize is that there are other ways to catch burglars now.  The police now have a wide range of powerful investigative tools at their disposal, making it increasingly difficult for burglars to escape justice.

Ping Evidence

One significant tool that has emerged is the so-called ping evidence.  This innovative method involves a person's cellphone pinging off towers near burglary scenes, allowing law enforcement to pinpoint their location.

So, they can pinpoint people within a mile or two of a burglary scene, and that evidence, combined with other evidence, is sometimes sufficient to catch them. This is because the law allows for the use of such evidence in court, and when combined with other evidence, it can be compelling in proving guilt.

If the police suspect a crew of burglars, they can use phone records to their advantage. By tracking the crew members' phones pinging off cell phone towers close to the burglary scene and each other, and by analyzing their communication during the time of the burglaries, a compelling case can be built.

Possession of Stolen Property

Other evidence that surrounds the ping is whether they're caught with any of the stolen property. Often, people are foolish enough to pawn merchandise that has been stolen during a burglary.

Video Evidence

Another effective method of catching and prosecuting burglars is through video evidence. If the police review the footage and spot the suspect near the burglary scene, or if witnesses can provide license plate information, it significantly strengthens the case.

Circumstantial Evidence

So, a lot of these burglaries that are being cracked where they don't have eyewitnesses or video evidence of the person actually in the home stealing the merchandise are being cracked by what we call circumstantial evidence. This is different from direct evidence, which is evidence that directly proves a fact, and is basically the police building a chain of evidence through circumstances that make it clear that the person was involved in the particular burglary that they've been arrested for.

A perfect example is one I often use when explaining circumstantial evidence, such as when a mother bakes a pie and a little boy is left alone with it in the kitchen. The mother comes back five minutes later, and a big bite is taken out of the pie, and asks the little boy, Did you bite that pie and the little boy says no.

Now, there was no video of the boy biting the pie.  There were no witnesses to see the boy bite the pie, but meanwhile, circumstantially, the boy was the only one in the kitchen.  The boy has pie crumbs all over his shirt.  The boy has cherry pie juice all around his face.  That's circumstantial evidence that the boy bit the pie.

Similarly, in a circumstance where there are multiple factors indicating that someone was involved in a burglary, the police will attempt to identify that person.  They'll give it to the prosecutors, who are lawyers working for the People of the State of California. These prosecutors are skilled in presenting a case to a jury, using circumstantial evidence to convincingly show that a particular person or persons was involved in a burglary.

Another way that they're linking these burglaries together is through gang activity.  A lot of these gang members are stupid enough to put the stolen merchandise on Facebook, for example.  They put a picture of themselves with the watch or some other merchandise from a burglary. This thorough approach to investigating and linking evidence is a testament to the legal system's commitment to ensuring justice.

So, once you start to tie all of these things together, it makes sense why the police have arrested a particular person. In this scenario, all people can do is point out that just because I had a picture of a watch on Facebook does not make me guilty of burglary.

That doesn't mean I went into the house. But what they don't realize is that there are about twenty other things that make it plausible that you were the one who went into the house and burglarized it.