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Man arrested in connection with Christmas burglary

Tribune staff report
Daniel Vega
Courtesy of the South Lake Tahoe Police Department |

Daniel Vega, 24, of South Lake Tahoe was arrested following a Christmas Day burglary.

At about 6:30 a.m. South Lake Tahoe Police (SLTP) officers were called to a home on the 3100 block of Fresno Avenue in response to a burglary.

Several visitors from foreign countries were staying in a large vacation home for Christmas, when In the darkness, a suspect made entry through a second story sliding glass door. Residents woke to find a thief rummaging through their personal belongings and confronted him.



The suspect reportedly ran out the front door of the home with items of stolen property. The burglar reportedly fell in the snow just outside the entrance and dropped a folding knife with blade about 4-inches-long.

The suspect did not brandish the knife at any of the victims during the crime, according to a press release from the SLTP. The suspect was gone when officers arrived.



Officers gathered a description of the burglar and set up a perimeter around the neighborhood with the assistance of El Dorado County Sheriff’s deputies. While establishing their initial perimeter, officers saw a subject in dark clothing running through the neighborhood, away from the home that was buglarized. During the search officers reportedly heard yelling from a nearby neighborhood street and discovered a victim who was chasing a man matching the burglary suspect’s description who just attempted to steal property from his parked vehicle.

This man could not identify the suspect. Shortly afterward, an officer discovered and detained a person matching the suspect’s description on a nearby street.

Victims from the residential burglary responded to this location and positively identified the detained man as the burglar.

Officers identified the suspect as Vega, who lives a few blocks from the residence of the burglary. Vega reportedly denied any involvement in the burglary.

Vega was booked into the El Dorado County Jail on a felony charge of first-degree residential burglary.

The SLTP are asking for the public’s assistance to help locate outstanding stolen property from this burglary and from other potential thefts.

Information, which cannot be released without jeopardizing the investigation, indicates that other unidentified suspects may be involved. In areas near the victims’ residence, investigating officers have located property that is suspected to have been taken from parked vehicles. These items do not belong to the residents of the Fresno Avenue residential burglary.

SLTP are looking for a Mac laptop computer with several stickers displayed on it, and a womans purse with identification, Indian currency and its full contents. The purse is described as brown and gray with a strap.

Anyone with information is encouraged to contact the South Lake Tahoe Police Department at 530-542-6100 or Lake Tahoe Secret Witness at 530-541-6800.


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