Menlo Park: Boy, 13, arrested twice in 18 days in car thefts

Two teens, ages 13 and 19, were arrested Tuesday (Jan. 31) by Menlo Park police on suspicion of stealing a vehicle that the police were monitoring after the keys had been stolen in a home burglary.

For the 13-year-old, it was second time in 18 days that he was arrested by Menlo Park police on suspicion of car theft.

The vehicle’s keys were reported stolen in a Jan. 29 burglary in the 1000 block of Menlo Oaks Drive in Menlo Park.

Two days later, at about 8:30 p.m., the vehicle was reported stolen. Police were able to track it through the neighborhood and found it, unoccupied, on Oak Court in Menlo Park.

A witness gave police a description of two suspects who had parked the vehicle and fled on foot. Police said officers and detectives saturated the area and found the suspects, who the witness identified, in the 1900 block of Euclid Avenue in East Palo Alto.

Arrested were Noel Macias-Vasquez, 19, or East Palo Alto, who was booked into San Mateo County jail, and a 13-year-old boy, also from East Palo Alto, who was booked into the Hillcrest Juvenile Detention Center. The 13-year-old had been arrested Jan. 13 by Menlo Park police while driving a stolen vehicle from East Palo Alto, police said.

Police are investigating whether the suspects are connected to the Menlo Oaks Drive burglary or other burglaries in the area.

Anyone with information is asked to call the police department at (650) 330-6300 or an anonymous tip hotline at (650) 330-6395.

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