Full Notification

DATE/TIME: April 4, 2014

TYPE OF INCIDENT: Recovered Stolen Property

SUSPECT: Ivette Sanjuan, 32 year-old, female, East
Palo Alto residence

INCIDENT SUMMARY:

On February 7, 2014, at approximately 10:28 am, Officer Ken Kammuller conducted a traffic enforcement stop on a vehicle in the 2600 block of El Camino Real in Redwood City. Officer Kammuller searched the vehicle and located several bags of jewelry in the trunk of the vehicle. The occupants of the vehicle denied ownership of the jewelry and said they did not know where it came from. Officer Kammuller suspected the jewelry was stolen and took possession of it to conduct a follow-up investigation. One of the items of jewelry was a unique charm bracelet that had names and dates of births engraved on the charms which led investigators to believe they were most likely names and dates of birth of the owner’s children. The case was assigned to Detective Dave Stahler who began an investigation to determine who the jewelry belonged to. When Detective Stahler exhausted the traditional law enforcement methods to locate the owner of the jewelry, he turned to the Redwood City Police Department’s social media program to seek the help of the public to locate the owner. Detective Stahler sent out a community information request on the Department’s Nixle, Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest sites.

In February of 2014, the Department launched a Pinterest site for the purpose of reuniting victims with their stolen property. The website contains photographs of property, primarily jewelry and bicycles, recovered by police officers during the course of their duties. Photographs of the property are uploaded onto the website so the public can easily access the site to check for their missing property.

Within 8 hours of sending out the public information request, Detective Stahler received assistance from three people who provided information that helped identify the owner of the bracelet. Detective Stahler made contact with the owner and learned the bracelet was stolen during a 1983 residential burglary in the city of San Jose. The owner of the bracelet was very excited to find out the bracelet had been recovered. The bracelet had a tremendous amount of sentimental value to the owner who confirmed those were her children’s names and dates of birth engraved on the charms. These citizens took it upon themselves to access private databases to research the names and dates of birth and developed information that assisted the police in identifying the owner. These citizens did an outstanding job of putting this information together and made it possible for us to locate the victim and get the charm bracelet returned to her. This was a great effort by observant citizens working independently from each other but with a collective force to return a lost treasure to the rightful owner. The Redwood City Police Department solutes the sincere efforts of our helping community and is thankful for the assistance we received on this investigation.

The Redwood City Police Department’s social media program and specifically the Pinterest site have been instrumental in reuniting victims with their missing property. This is the fourth person that has been reunited with their property since the Department launched the Pinterest site. The use of social media has been a great tool for the police department and our community to work jointly in combatting crime in our city. In the past, victims would be called to the police department to view property recovered by officers to see if it belonged to them, now our victims can view our Pinterest site from the convenience of their home or office to see if their property has been located. This is a much more efficient way to have our victims view recovered property, while giving us the ability to connect with multiple victims from multiple jurisdictions. As the Redwood City Police Department continues to integrate useful technologies into the efficient delivery of police services, the Pinterest site has demonstrated the efficiency we anticipated with the added benefit of a watchful public willing to assist us in our efforts.

For more about the Redwood City Police Department’s Social Media Program or get connected to our social media pages please visit:

http://www.redwoodcity.org/police/SocialMedia.html


The suspect was booked into the San Mateo County Jail for possession of stolen property. Anyone with information regarding this investigation or the suspect is encouraged to contact Detective Dave Stahler at 650-780-7620.