A 30-year-old Daly City man is facing felony vandalism charges after San Mateo police say he cut power lines at multiple homes and then tried to hide the wire cutters under a water meter cover before officers arrived. Alfredo Salas was arrested Monday following what investigators are calling a wire-cutting spree that left extensive damage across several properties near the 100 block of 29th Avenue.
According to the San Mateo Police Department, officers responded to a report of a suspicious person involved in vandalism in the neighborhood. Police say Salas severed multiple power lines directly in front of a reporting resident’s home, and additional wires were later found cut within a water meter at the scene. Officers recovered the wire cutters after determining Salas had attempted to conceal the tool beneath the meter cover, according to the department’s account.
Investigators say photos and video footage reviewed by officers showed a male suspect cutting the power lines in front of the residence just before his arrest, as reported by San Mateo Patch. That kind of resident-captured footage has become a common first line of evidence in suburban property crime cases, and it appears to have played a central role in establishing probable cause here…