Concord House Cleaner Arrested in Lafayette

The Lafayette police chief believes that a house cleaner from Concord arrested on suspicion of grand theft last week may have stolen items from many homes in the area from as far back as November 2012.

Police chief Eric Christensen said in a press release that Alvaro Harry Lopez may have peddled a steady stream of stolen goods to various pawn shops and gold dealers in the area and that people who’ve hired the Concord man should take an inventory of their jewelry.

Lopez’ alleged crimes came to light when a Lafayette resident noticed missing property after Lopez employing Lopez as a house cleaner. 

Christensen said that there’s some urgency in identifying missing jewelry now: “Because the materials [Lopez] pawned will be destroyed forever by the pawn shop after the item is in pawn for 4 months and 10 days.  Some are nearing their expiration date."

Here is the full press release:

Neighbors -

Last week, we arrested ALVARO HARRY LOPEZ, a 38 year old who resides in Concord for Grand Theft.   This investigation was started by a resident who reported missing some property from their home and then confronted the person that they felt was likely to have stolen the property, the people they had hired to clean their home.   LOPEZ has worked throughout Lafayette and the Valley with his wife cleaning homes, including cleaning homes when they were to be displayed by Realtors.

As we have tried to discover how large of an impact that he and his wife have had upon our community, we found that LOPEZ was very active at a number of local Gold and Silver Pawn Shops.  We know that he was stealing from homes since at least November of 2012, taking a small number of items that were likely to go unnoticed.

A check of a local pawn shop identified that LOPEZ has a number of other items of jewelry currently on pawn at the store.   Because he has pawned so many items of stolen property at the business, we believe that many of these items may be stolen as well - that's what we need your help for.   LOPEZ stole while he was in your home cleaning - so if you used him, you may be missing property.  If you used him or his service to clean your home, please take a few moments to look through your property to see if you are missing any items of jewelry.   Class rings, necklaces, bracelets, and pendents are all on the list of property from one of the pawn shops (12 trips to this pawn shop are still unaccounted for).

Please take the time to look through your property today, because the materials he pawned will be destroyed forever by the pawn shop after the item is in pawn for 4 months and 10 days.  Some are nearing their expiration date

If you had LOPEZ in your home cleaning and believe you may be missing property, please email me at echri@so.cccounty.us.  As always, you can report suspicious activity to the Lafayette Police Department through email at 94549Tip@gmail.com or by telephone (925) 284-5010.

Thanks, Eric