SAN JOSE, California — Three men from three Central Valley cities have been arrested weeks after an armed robbery of a family at their San Jose home, the San Jose Police Department announced on Monday, November 9, in a press release reported by CBS News and KION. The arrests close the investigation phase of a case that began on the night of August 7 in East San Jose — and they were made, police say, because automated licence plate reader (ALPR) data identified the vehicle the robbers fled in.
Source: KION / CBS News, Nov. 9-10, 2026
The robbery happened on August 7 at about 10:30 p.m. at a home in East San Jose. Police said a family of three — two adults and a child — had just arrived home and parked their vehicle in their driveway when they were approached by two male suspects. The suspects pulled out weapons and forcibly took the victims' jewellery and other belongings, police said. The suspects fled the scene in a vehicle before officers arrived. Police did not disclose whether anyone was injured, and the child is not identified in any police-facing reporting; Awaaz Punjab does not name or identify minor victims.
How detectives say they found the suspects
Robbery detectives began an investigation and, using automated license plate reader data, identified the suspect vehicle and later were able to identify both primary suspects and an additional suspect, police said. Detectives obtained arrest warrants for each suspect and search warrants for their homes. The suspects were identified by police as 19-year-old Dennis Jackson of Stockton, 30-year-old Charles Gaston of Sacramento, and 32-year-old Richard Burton of Tracy. All three are adults named in police-facing reporting; the armed robbery charges against them are allegations, and they are presumed innocent unless convicted in court.
On October 22, detectives located Jackson in Stockton and located Gaston in Sacramento, and both men were arrested, police said. On October 26, Burton was taken into custody in Tracy. All three suspects were booked into the Santa Clara County Main Jail on charges of armed robbery, according to the department.
The licence plate reader method — a pattern in San Jose cases
The ALPR thread in this case is not a one-off for the department. In a separate press release on October 14, the San Jose Police Department described an almost identical investigative path in a July 4 armed robbery in a parking lot in the 1100 block of South King Road: robbery unit detectives used automated license plate reader cameras to identify the suspect vehicle and then two suspects, obtained arrest warrants, and arrested both suspects in Redwood City on October 6, booking them into the same Santa Clara County Main Jail for armed robbery. That October case is a different incident from the August 7 driveway robbery, but it shows the method SJPD now publicly credits in both investigations: the plate reader identifies the car, detectives identify the people, and warrants follow them home — in this case to three different cities.
Source: San Jose Police Department press release, Oct. 14, 2026
Why Central Valley readers are watching this case
The three home cities in this case — Stockton, Sacramento and Tracy — sit along the Central Valley corridors where a large share of California's Punjabi diaspora lives and works, including many families in trucking and warehousing who commute between the Valley and the Bay Area. Police have not alleged any wider ring in this case, and nothing in the department's account connects the suspects to any community organisation; the relevance for readers is geographic and practical: an East San Jose family was robbed in its own driveway at night, the suspects allegedly travelled in from three Valley cities, and the evidence that identified them came from the plate-reader cameras now posted across Bay Area and Valley roads.
Police asked anyone with information about this case or similar cases to contact Detective Ortega #4834 of the San Jose Police Department's Robbery Unit at 408-277-4166. Police have not said whether they believe the same suspects are linked to other driveway or follow-home robberies; anyone reporting information should describe only what they personally saw.
What happens next
With all three suspects booked into Santa Clara County Main Jail on armed robbery charges, the case now moves to the Santa Clara County court process, where prosecutors decide the formal charges and the men will have the opportunity to answer the allegations. Police have not announced any further arrests in the August 7 case, and the department's account leaves two points open: whether anyone was injured during the robbery, which police did not disclose, and whether the investigation into similar cases produces further arrests. Awaaz Punjab will update this story if the department releases court dates or additional findings.