Pillowcase Leads Police to Arrest 5 Over Burglary

Burglars who targeted Matilde Ramos’ house in Burbank made one mistake--they swiped a pillowcase off her bed to carry off their loot.

Five men were arrested Wednesday on suspicion of burglary and receiving stolen property after the pillowcase piqued the suspicion of a Burbank patrol officer during a traffic stop, Burbank Police Sgt. Don Goldberg said. The officer called Ramos to the scene, where she identified the pillowcase as hers.

The investigation began about 4:30 p.m. when Officer Glen Sorkness pulled over a car for running a red light near Riverside Drive and Maple Street. Police radio dispatchers alerted Sorkness that the car matched the description of a vehicle used in several residential burglaries. Sorkness asked to search the car.

Driver Bryan Rayfield, 18, of North Hollywood consented. In the trunk, Sorkness found a pillowcase, a flashlight and a computer, Goldberg said. Sorkness knew that burglars the night before had stolen a pillowcase to carry their booty and called Ramos to the scene.

That was hers, she told police, producing the matching pillowcase to prove it. The flashlight was hers too, she said.

Rayfield was arrested and held in lieu of $10,000 bail.

During questioning he told detectives that he did not usually drive the car and said they might want to talk to his brother, Rodney Hughes, 24.

Rayfield provided directions to the North Hollywood motel where Hughes was staying, Goldberg said. Police found Hughes at the Silver Saddle Motel on Lankershim Boulevard.

With Hughes were several pieces of jewelry stolen in residential burglaries in the San Fernando Valley over the past few weeks, Goldberg said.

Hughes, recently paroled from state prison on a burglary conviction, was arrested and held without bail, Goldberg said.

Hughes, as talkative as his brother, told detectives where they could find another man--identified as Alois Holts, 36--who he said assisted in the burglaries, Goldberg said. Hughes also disclosed the location of two men he claimed had acted as fences for the stolen property: Jose Balerdi, 57, and Rogelio Martinez, 30, both of North Hollywood.

All three men were arrested--Holts on suspicion of burglary, Balerdi and Martinez on suspicion of receiving stolen property.

Holts was held in lieu of $18,000 bail, and bail for Balerdi and Martinez was set at $100,000.

Goldberg said Balerdi and Martinez were arrested at the Village Inn Motel on Lankershim Boulevard, where police found several thousand dollars worth of stolen property.

The property--mostly jewelry, stereo equipment and videocassette recorders--was being catalogued by detectives Thursday and will be held until trial.

The pillowcase will, too.