A man police say committed numerous burglaries in Lakeport last week was arrested in Capitola on Friday afternoon, Lakeport Police Chief Brad Rasmussen said.
Lakeport Police on Thursday night issued a statement seeking the public's help in finding Jeffery William Stokes, 25, who has been charged with eight counts of felony burglary, five counts of felony possession of stolen property and four counts of misdemeanor possession of burglary tools and vandalism. A second suspect, Kimberly Jo Harvey, 46, already is in custody at Lake County Jail.
Stokes was arrested at around 2 p.m. after showing up at a family member's house in Capitola, Rasmussen said. The family member told Stokes to leave and called local police, who ran a check and found that Stokes was wanted in Lake County.
Capitola police found and arrested him, and Stokes is now in custody in Santa Cruz County Jail. Rasmussen said Stokes will likely be transported soon to Lake County Jail pending any local charges in Santa Cruz County.
Harvey was arrested Jan. 9 on suspicion of burglary and possessing stolen property and burglary tools after police found her at a Lakeport motel room that the hotel manager connected with a man matching Stokes' description, police said. That man had been stealing coins from the motel's laundry room, the manager told police.
Video surveillance showed a man registering for a room under the name Stokes. The man's appearance matched that of a man seen on video, along with a woman, on burglarizing a local dry cleaning business two days earlier, police said.
An officer went to the room registered to Stokes. He was not there, but police said the officer got verbal permission from a woman there, later identified as Harvey, to enter the motel room. The officer saw multiple items he believed to be stolen, including jewelry and blank checks. There also were bolt cutters and other devices considered to be burglary tools, police said.
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