An attempted burglary was reported by police in Atherton, California, on Tuesday, according to local news outlets, in the latest crime case to hit the most expensive zip code in the U.S.
The Atherton Police Department released a statement saying there was an attempted burglary at about 6:12 p.m. on Tuesday at a home on Fairview Avenue, according to a KRON4 report. Several suspects tried to enter the property through the broken window of a bedroom on the ground floor, but no further details were disclosed.
Newsweek contacted the Atherton Police Department for comment by email on Thursday.
It's yet another crime case hitting the wealthy community of Atherton, after the home of NBA star Stephen Curry was entered by a trespasser on October 15, making national headlines. The suspect who allegedly entered Curry's home was identified as 18-year-old Sheng Gao, an international student from China and a resident of Cupertino.
The San Mateo County District Attorney's Office said that the student took a bus to Atherton on October 15 to head to find the Golden State Warriors star and ask him for an autograph. The DA said the student was told by a woman where Curry lived, and once he arrived at the house, he rang the bell outside the property's gate to be let in.
The property gate opened to the student and Gao walked through the home's front door, which he found open. While Curry and his wife Ayesha Curry were not at home, the couple's children and the nanny were there. When the nanny asked Gao who he was and what he was doing there, and then demanded he left the property, the student did so.
An arrest warrant was issued on Tuesday against Gao, who was identified as a trespasser by the nanny using the property's surveillance video. Gao signed a citation promising to appear in court on December 7, but then failed to show up.
Other celebrities and big names have chosen the Californian city, located in San Mateo County, as their home. Among them are venture capitalists Marc Andreessen and Bill Gurley; Elizabeth Holmes, the self-made former biotechnology entrepreneur who was convicted of fraud; businessman and investor Ben Horowitz; Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen; HP CEO Meg Whitman; and Google Chairman Eric Schmidt.
The position of the Bay Area city might have played a crucial role in so many tech executives' decision to move there, as Atherton is only a 45-minute drive from San Francisco and an even shorter one from the headquarters of Facebook and Google.
The influx of wealthy residents has made Atherton the most expensive zip code in the U.S. for at least the past six years, according to PropertyShark. In 2022, the company reported that the median home sale price in 2022 in the city was $7.9 million.
Despite the recent incidents, local police said that crime in Atherton has been relatively low this year thanks to new theft-deterrence technology like automated license plate reader cameras installed across the city, as reported by RWC Pulse. Town officials recently said that communities using this technology reported a reduction in package and mail theft by up to 90 percent.
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Giulia Carbonaro is a Newsweek Reporter based in London, U.K. Her focus is on U.S. and European politics, global affairs ... Read more
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