Grandchildren Help Police Catch House Burglar
AURORA, Colo. (CBS4) - The mother of two Aurora children who had to hide while a burglar broke into their grandparents home can't speak about the incident without some tears.
"This is grandma and grandpa's house," Sandy Santillano told CBS4. "It's a place where they have always felt safe. It's like a second home to them. They've been raised here."
Police say Roberto Avalos, 11, and his 13-year-old sister did everything right on Friday night when the crime happened.
The children didn't have school on Friday so the family plan was for their grandfather to babysit. The grandfather had a doctor's appointment and left the children at home when he went. While they were home a burglar broke through bathroom window after first knocking on the front door to no response.
"I looked out the window," Avalos said. "I didn't know who it was. I was hoping he'd go away."
The terrified grandchildren grabbed the phone in the house and hid in the boiler room in the basement and quickly called 911.
The burglar was still in house when police arrived about two minutes later.
The suspect then climbed out of a bedroom window, jumped fences and leaped on a roof and was finally trapped in a neighbor's yard where he was captured.
"It scared me," Avalos said.
The suspect in the case -- Alberto Javier Soria, 21 -- is being held at the Adams County Jail on a $10,000 bond. He made preliminary appearance in court on Tuesday morning on burglary charges.
Soria's criminal history includes several drug arrests and arrests for theft and menacing.
