Where have the burglaries taken place?

At this time all we know is that the burglaries occurred in Mountain View. We'll try to pin down which neighborhoods, and will update the story as soon as we find out.

I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW WHERE THESE BURGLARIES TAKE PLACE BECAUSE I WANT TO SAFE ESPECIALY WHEN YOU ARE ALONE AND YOUR HUSBAND IS AT WORK AND YOUR CHILDREN ARE AT SCHOOL ITS KIND OF GOOD TO LET KNOW WHERE THIS IS HAPPENING SO WE CAN LOOK OUT FOR EACH OTHER. I GET SCARED WHEN IM BY MYSELF UNTIL MY HUSBAND AND CHILDREN GET HOME PLEASE LET US KNOW WHERE THEY HAPPEN AT.

I feel that 18 burglaries are something the police needs to worry about - but not something everybody should be frightened about. We do have more than 70k people living in Mountain View, thus the chance that the burglar picks a specific house is extremely small.
Nothing to be worry about - no reason to get paranoid.
Just make sure you look your house if you are not there. This has been known to help. Generally Burglar are like bears.. if you make them aware of your presence they will go for easier prey than your belongings.

I am looking forward to an update on this article once the burglar or the two different burglars are caught.

Great article - well done.

Yesterday afternoon we spoke with police spokesperson Liz Wylie about this. She said the burglaries are happening throughout the whole city of Mountain View and do not occur in one specific area -- it is not the location that connects the crimes. Liz also said the burglar first checks to see if someone is home by ringing the doorbell. If no one answers he breaks into the house. If someone does answer, he gives them some sort of story and moves on. Residents should call police immediately if someone fitting the description rings their bell and then gives a dubious reason for doing so.

Also, two more burglaries have been connected to this person. We'll update this story sometime later today.

We don't live in an era of unlocked doors and open windows anymore. Even if they catch this guy, there are hundreds more like him out there to take his place.

The police would do wise to focus less on the activities of Wolf Dog and more on the activities of this criminal.

I say we sic the wolf dog on the serial burglar after the police catch him.

What do I do if the man comes to my door and I am home? Do I just let him walk away or can I do a citizens arrest?

I am all for DOG's suggestion. By the way, this burglar is making me suspicious of every older guy walking around town. I think they are all up to no good. My apologies fellow citizens, but this is just a clear example of how crimes like this take a toll on a community. It's more than the loss of a few possessions here and there. It attacks peace of mind and trust in one's community.