Smash-and-Dash Fraud Spree Ends in Arrest in Palo Alto

Two daring felony fraud suspects finally met their match in Palo Alto yesterdat, after a dramatic chain of events unfolded, featuring rammed patrol cars, a loaded handgun, and a tangled web of illicit activities. According to the report released by the City of Palo Alto Police Department, a call was received from an employee at First Tech Federal Credit Union, located at 3000 El Camino Real, regarding a male suspect attempting to fraudulently withdraw funds from an account that did not belong to him.

(Palo Alto PD)

When officers responded and located the suspect vehicle, a black Ford F-150 pickup truck, in the business's parking lot, little did they know the situation was about to escalate quickly. As a patrol officer placed his vehicle behind the truck, the suspect driver hastily reversed, striking the police car and subsequently speeding off through the parking lot, with officers in hot pursuit. But this wasn't to be the last of the vehicular onslaught for the determined officers.

In an attempt to evade capture, the suspects raced until they hit a dead end on the 400 block of Leland Avenue, only to find themselves trapped in a driveway. According to the police department, as the officers closed in, the suspect driver once again pounded the accelerator in reverse, ramming the front of the second patrol vehicle with such force that its airbags were deployed, and the engine ignited into flames.

With their escape route blocked and nowhere to go, the suspects were ultimately detained without further incident. Inside the F-150, officers discovered a loaded handgun, narcotics, and numerous fraudulently manufactured identification cards. Further investigations revealed that the vehicle itself had been procured through deceitful means, using another person's personal identifying information.

The suspects, 39-year-old Emmanuel Glinton and 27-year-old Kelsey Kathleen Lucius, both declined to provide their cities of residence when they were booked into the Santa Clara County Main Jail. Glinton faces a slew of charges, including eight felonies such as two counts of assault with a deadly weapon (for reversing the truck toward officers), reckless evading, carrying a concealed firearm, being a prohibited person in possession of a firearm, possession of a controlled substance while armed, and false personation; four misdemeanors including false identification to police and resisting arrest; and even three outstanding felony warrants and two outstanding misdemeanor arrest warrants out of Sacramento Police Department and Sacramento County for various offenses including narcotics possession, fraud, evading, resisting arrest, illegal weapons possession, and violation of probation.

Lucius, the passenger, is charged with identity theft and false personation (both felonies); resisting arrest and false identification to police (both misdemeanors); and two felony warrants out of Sacramento County for check fraud. 

Fortunately, the officer in the first patrol vehicle struck was uninjured, although the vehicle did sustain moderate damage. Of the two officers in the second patrol car, one suffered a broken hand bone, and the other received abrasions to the face. Both were treated and released from a local hospital, while their vehicle sustained extensive damage.

Anyone with information about the incident is encouraged to call the 24-hour dispatch center at (650) 329-2413. Anonymous tips can be emailed to [email protected] or sent via text message or voicemail to (650) 383-8984.