Police have arrested a woman suspected of breaking into a car and stealing a wallet Thursday morning in downtown Palo Alto.
Around 9 a.m. that morning, police received a call from a witness who had noticed a woman who was yelling in the area, then later saw her on High Street in Palo Alto near Whole Foods, sitting in a white 2020 Ford Escape that the witness believed was not hers.
Officers arrived at the scene, and the suspect, 42-year-old Ammiel Elisabeth Lawson of Morgan Hill, got out of the car, and officers “contacted her without incident,” according to a news release. On her, they found a wallet belonging to a man in his fifties, which they suspected she stole.
Their investigation revealed that the suspect had used a key to force open the door of the vehicle and take the wallet.
Officers have returned the wallet to the man, and booked Lawson into the Santa Clara County Jail on charges of auto burglary, a felony, and possession of burglary tools, a misdemeanor.
Police did not have evidence linking the suspect to any other car burglaries.