Los Gatos Weekly-Times

Arrest leads to more charges

By Shari Kaplan

Los Gatos police arrested San Jose resident Michael Alan Sickler, 27, on multiple charges July 12, following a single bicycle theft.

Upon reviewing the case, the District Attorney's office charged Sickler with one count of stealing a vehicle and four counts of burglary--all felonies. He is also charged with a misdemeanor theft.

At 12:43 p.m., a resident of Briarwood Way called Los Gatos police to report that a shirtless man in his late 20s had just stolen a 21-speed bicycle from her open garage. According to police reports, responding officers soon located her bicycle in the front yard of a house on nearby Kensington Way. A resident there then flagged down police to report seeing a shirtless man prowling around a garage before fleeing west on Cambrian View Way.

Following additional sightings, San Jose police officers joined the LGPD in a yard-to-yard search on Cambrian View Way and Blossom Hill Road; the two streets run parallel to each other. At 1:45 p.m., LGPD officer Tim Morgan found and arrested Sickler in the backyard of a house in the 14800 block of Blossom Hill Road in Los Gatos.

Followup investigations by Los Gatos police revealed Sickler was wanted for a string of illegal activities. During the late night hours of July 11 or early morning hours of July 12, Sickler allegedly stole a vehicle from a dealership on Stevens Creek Boulevard in San Jose.

Police said the suspect then burglarized a vehicle on Albany Drive in San Jose, stole license plates off a vehicle on Tupolo Drive in San Jose and drove to Los Gatos, where he broke into a house on Howes Drive, taking prescription medication, food, a garage door switch and a dartboard.

Sickler was arraigned at the Santa Clara County Municipal Court July 16, where he was appointed a public defender and sent back to custody at Elmwood Correctional Facility in Milpitas. Bail was set at $30,000. He was scheduled for a plea hearing on July 19.