CALIFORNIA COMPUTERS STOLEN The Half Moon Bay Review

Sometime between Dec. 23 and Dec. 26, thieves broke into an unoccupied Myrtle Street home and stole valuable electronics. The crime came about two weeks after Half Moon Bay police chased suspects in a string of brazen residential burglaries and car thefts into an empty field near Dwight Avenue.

Some of the elements in the Christmastime break-in are different from four local burglaries that police say are linked. Previous crimes occurred in occupied houses; those burglars came through unlocked doors. But there are similarities to this latest crime as well, said Half Moon Bay Police Capt. Michael O'Malley.

"We think they probably moved when they had that encounter and were almost caught," said O'Malley of the Dwight Avenue pursuit on Dec. 6. "They got spooked then, but now they may be back."

The first burglary in the series happened Oct. 4 in the 500 block of Myrtle. After a break of several weeks, houses were hit in neighborhoods east and north of that location.

O'Malley said there had been no other Half Moon Bay burglaries since Dec. 6 and that calls to law enforcement agencies in other nearby areas have yielded no leads or larger patterns in the case. Half Moon Bay police will begin meeting twice a month with representatives from the San Mateo County Sheriff's Office Coastside substation to coordinate efforts in such cases, he added.

"We haven't done that in the past," said O'Malley. "It's something that should have happened a long time ago."

The latest burglary haul included a laptop computer and a DVD player, according to police reports. Thieves broke a homemade cat door to open a window and enter the house. The itemsstolen are similar to those taken in the previous burglaries, but are common targets in general, police said.

A recent rash of holiday car burglaries in Burlingame has focused on electronic items like GPS devices and computers as well, said O'Malley.

Identity theft is an added concern in such cases.