La Mesa Police Arrest Second Man In I-Pad Theft Scam

LA MESA -- The La Mesa Police arrested a man Tuesday for grand theft and robbery after a month long investigation into a Craig’s List scam involving I-Pads. Jesus Sanchez, of Santee, turned himself in after police detectives served a search warrant on his house in the 9300 block of Nalini Court, Santee on July 27, 2010.

On Thursday, police, working on additional information linking a second suspect to the crime, announced the arrest of Christopher Cook, of Alpine. Cook turned himself in after detectives arrested Jesus Sanchez on Tuesday on charges of robbery, grand theft, and conspiracy.

During the month of June, the La Mesa Police Department received two separate crime reports where the victims had placed an ad on Craig’s List to sell their I-Pads. Sanchez allegedly contacted the victims and gave them a residential address in La Mesa to meet. Once the victims, both males in their 20s, arrived in the neighborhood, Sanchez would meet with them at their cars (the residential addresses were fictitious). In one incident, Sanchez asked to look at the I-Pad and once he had it, he ran away from the scene. In the other incident, he grabbed the I-Pad out of the hands of the victim and alsoran off. Police said they later developed additional information linking Cook to the crimes as well.

Sanchez was booked into County Jail for grand theft and robbery. Police Detectives are looking for possible additional victims in this type of theft. Sanchez is described as a Hispanic male, 20 years old, 5 foot 8 inches tall, 225 lbs., with black hair and brown eyes. Anyone who thinks they were victimized by Sanchez should call Detective Lynch at 619 667-1440.