Manteca man charged in Orinda burglaries totaling $80,000

ORINDA — A Manteca man has been charged with stealing roughly $80,000 in jewelry and other valuables from two Orinda homes, and with leading police on a chase in a moving truck when they interrupted him during the second burglary.

The burglaries occurred in January, but were recently solved thanks to a confirmed DNA match from items at both homes, authorities said. The first burglary occurred on Jan. 2, at a residence on Fallen Leaf Terrace Drive, when a couple returned home from a trip and discovered jewelry, cash and mail totaling $15,000 had been stolen during a break-in.

Four days later, police responded to a 911 call of a burglary on Dalewood Drive, where the resident returned home and startled the burglar, who drove off in a U-Haul truck. Police located the truck heading toward Oakland on Highway 24 and initiated a pursuit, but discontinued the chase after the truck went through the Caldecott Tunnel, authorities said.

By the time the Dalewood Drive resident interrupted him, the burglar had already loaded an estimated $65,000 in valuables into the truck, police said.

A 44-year-old man was later identified as the suspect in both burglaries through testings of swabs taken from both homes, authorities said. He is also a suspect in burglaries in Berkeley and Dublin.

The man was held to answer after a preliminary hearing earlier this month, and remains jailed in Contra Costa. He is due to be arraigned on Monday at 8:30 a.m., records show.