FROM:
Stephen Gibbons, Assistant District Attorney
James Sibley, Deputy District Attorney
High Technology Crimes Unit
(408) 792-2823 For release on June 3, 2004 PROLIFIC HIGH TECH BURGLAR APPREHENDED For the last four years a serial burglar, Howard Allen Young, victimized high technology companies in Silicon Valley. The burglar was unique in appearance, at 6’7” tall and over 300 pounds, always dressed in a suit and tie with gloves, white socks, and sporting a cap. He was also unique in approach; he forcibly entered companies early Saturday mornings disassembling and removing specialized high-end components such as memory boards, CPU’s, and switches from network servers. From November of 2000 through May of 2004 he committed over 26 burglaries of high tech companies in Santa Clara, San Mateo, and Alameda Counties, with losses approaching three million dollars. Sought by more than fourteen Northern California agencies as well as police in Colorado, Massachusetts and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the suspect repeatedly eluded both identification and capture. On Friday afternoon, May 28, 2004, REACT task force agents, assisted by San Francisco Airport Police, arrested Howard Allen Young, 41, on a $5,000,000 arrest warrant out of Santa Clara County as he exited a plane arriving at San Francisco International Airport from Las Vegas. A search of Young’s luggage revealed burglary tools, gloves, bolt cutters, and the distinctive clothing shown in countless surveillance videos. Young will appear in Santa Clara County Superior Court June 7 at 2:00 p.m., Department 23 to be arraigned on a twenty-six count complaint alleging fourteen counts of commercial burglary and twelve counts of grand theft. Young also faces enhancements alleging individual thefts of over $50,000 from Cisco, over $150,000 from EnTrust, and over $1,000,000 from Portal Software. With a prior “strike” conviction for kidnapping, Young faces a potential maximum sentence of over thirty-four years. ###