Five bike thieves arrested in Santa Cruz this week

A bike thief was arrested Wednesday night, and another early Thursday morning, bringing the tally of arrested bike thieves to five for this week, according to the Santa Cruz Police Department and news reports.

accused santa cruz bike thief Zachary Bernal

Zachary Bernal (pictured above) was arrested Wednesday morning on a domestic violence incident, according to the Sentinel. He had been released the same day and, that evening, he and an accomplice were confronted by concerned citizens as he cut the lock on a women’s Trek mountain bike in front of the Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium on Church Street. They ran, but police located Bernal several blocks away and arrested him. The accomplice got away.

Then, at 1 AM Thursday morning, Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk security officers caught Jeremy Ochoa (photo below) cutting the lock on a bike there. He was detained and police arrived to arrest Ochoa.

accused santa cruz bike thief Jeremy Ochoa

I’ve mentioned the earlier bike theft arrests already, but here are the mugshots of the other suspects.

accused santa cruz bike thief Thomas Wingo
Accused Santa Cruz bike thief Thomas Wingo
accused santa cruz bike thief Jessica Vanbrug
Accused Santa Cruz bike thief Jessica Vangrug
accused santa cruz bike thief Patrick Collins
Accused Santa Cruz bike thief Patrick Collins

Mugshots from the Santa Cruz Police blog. Also reported at KSBW.

Another gold star for the Santa Cruz Police Department and for those citizens willing to stop the thieves.

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