BMX pro arrested in school-burglary ring investigation

Rider part of group of 12 arrested on suspicion of breaking into schools in Santa Ana.

SANTA ANA – Twelve people, including a professional BMX rider, have been arrested in conjunction with a six-month string of burglaries at various schools throughout the Santa Ana Unified School District, school police said.

School police Sgt. Mark Van Holt said pro BMX rider Benjamin Snowden, 28, and his accomplices were part of a team that would break into multiple classrooms in the middle of the night and steal laptop computers and overhead projectors.

Van Holt said the suspected members of a burglary ring were apprehended early Saturday morning when school police responded to a silent alarm at King School and found six juveniles attempting to break in.

"We caught two in the act of breaking into the school," Van Holt said. "They had duffel bags and they were taking the high-end items."

Van Holt said the juveniles led them to the entire ring, consisting of a total of seven juveniles and five adults. The adults, Williams Florian, 18, Lawrence Werrell, 18, Javier Muro, 26, Erik Mata, 26, and Snowden, all live in Santa Ana.

Van Holt said two adults would drive the juveniles to the burglary sites and act as lookouts. The other three adults, including Snowden, would fence the stolen goods for BMX and skateboard parts.

The group was charged with commercial burglary and other crimes, Van Holt said

Originally Posted by Ridebmx.com

I just called Ben, and he’s not in jail, he’s actually on his way to Vegas with his brother. The story according to Ben, a local rider sold him and his roommate a couple of laptops and an iPod, then long story short, the cops come knocking on their door this past Saturday and arrest them for possession of stolen goods. He said the cops were nice, and the whole thing wasn’t much of a big deal. Later in the day, he was released without bail, and then three days later, there’s a story on the OCregister with a bunch of misinformation. Ben is supposed to type something up and send it our way when he gets to a computer sometime tomorrow..

capownd from BG