Man pleads no contest to burglary charges

A 24-year-old man connected to multiple home burglaries throughout the Peninsula pleaded no contest to burglary charges Monday in San Mateo County Superior Court, according to the district attorney’s office.

Johnny Fobbs pleaded no contest to felony residential burglary and felony attempted residential burglary and also admitted to having prior felony convictions, prosecutors said.

The no contest plea came on the condition that he serves no more than 34 years and eight months in state prison, according to prosecutors.

Fobbs and two other men, identified as 24-year-old Kim Parks and 31-year-old Derwin Upshaw, committed the home burglaries between September 2015 and January of this year, hitting up homes in the Peninsula and the East Bay, prosecutors said.

Authorities began investigating the burglaries after a number of San Mateo County residents reported the break-ins. In each case, prosecutors said the modus operandi was similar: the suspects broke a rear sliding glass door and stole guns, jewelry, cash and safes.

The burglars also used gloves, and witnesses reported seeing several suspects working as a team, prosecutors said.

Authorities were eventually able to identify a suspect vehicle and placed an electronic tracker on the car. On Jan. 21, authorities tracked the car from the East Bay to San Carlos, where another home was burglarized using the same method as seen in the earlier burglaries, prosecutors said.

Authorities attempted to stop the car, but the suspects led them on a pursuit that ended in Oakland with a foot chase. Authorities caught up with Fobbs and arrested him on suspicion of committing the burglaries.

Prosecutors said investigators also found jewelry in Fobbs’ pocket that was later determined to have been stolen from the San Carlos house that had been burglarized earlier that day.

Investigators were able to use cellphone records to connect Fobbs, Parker and Upshaw to the burglaries, prosecutors said.

Fobbs is set to return to court on Feb. 10 when he’ll be sentenced. Fobbs’ defense attorney Alex Berstein was not immediately available for comment.

In October, Parks pleaded no contest to residential burglary and admitted to having prior convictions and a judge sentenced him to eight years in prison.

Upshaw is in custody in San Joaquin County jail on unrelated charges and has not yet made a court appearance in San Mateo County on the burglary charges, prosecutors said.