A Santa Clara resident who police believe took part in a recent wave of residential burglaries in Palo Alto and other Bay Area cities is now facing charges in connection with the months-long crime spree, Palo Alto Police Department announced in a news release Tuesday afternoon.

The 23-year old suspect is believed to be behind at least five burglaries that took place in Palo Alto between last October and May, police said. Detectives also believe he is connected to three additional incidents in San Jose and one in Fremont, according to the announcement.

Palo Alto police obtained an arrest warrant on July 20 that charged Cesar Carmona with five felony counts of residential burglary. He was in custody at the time, having been arrested that same day by the Santa Clara Police Department for unrelated charges. Police served the arrest warrant on July 25, according to the announcement.

On July 27, the Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office charged him with seven counts of burglary, four counts of attempted burglary and four counts of vandalism, all felonies.

In Palo Alto, the rash of burglaries began in October and generally involved suspects breaking into unoccupied homes during dinnertime by shattering glass doors in the rear yards. By Nov. 9, police reported that they had 11 such cases, all of them involving suspects who broke into unoccupied homes and began to rummage through rooms, apparently looking for jewelry and safes to steal.

Police said at that time that they believed a single burglary crew, consisting of between two and four suspects, was behind multiple cases. Police dubbed them the "Dinnertime Home Burglary Crew."

A review of surveillance footage from some of the burglaries led the police to believe that the suspects were Hispanic males in their 20s. They typically wore hooded sweatshirts, face coverings and gloves, police said.

In one intrusion, which occurred in early November, burglars reportedly stole a locked gun safe with nine firearms inside it from a home on Louis Road. Two others occurred on the same day and on the same block of Briarwood Way in late October. In at least two cases, the burglars got away in a gray sedan. In at least two others, they took off in a white SUV, according to the police.

Carmona was charged in connection with five Palo Alto burglaries that spanned from Oct. 22 to May 2. These included burglaries that occurred on the 700 block of Rosewood Drive (Oct. 22); on the 4200 block of Briarwood Way (Oct. 28); on the 3600 block of Ramona Street (Feb. 16); on the 700 block of Talisman Court (March 22) and on the 1400 block of Byron St. (May 2).

Police are continuing to investigate the identity of other suspects, as well as the possibility that Carmona is responsible for additional burglaries, according to the announcement.

Anyone with information about this incident is asked to call the department 24-hour dispatch center at 650-329-2413. Anonymous tips can be e-mailed to paloalto@tipnow.org or sent via text message or voicemail to 650-383-8984.

Editor's Note: Palo Alto Online's policy is to withhold the names of those arrested for most crimes until the District Attorney has determined there is sufficient evidence to file charges in the case. In this case, the DA charged Carmona. See our guidelines here.