Author: The Force Science Research Center
By Casey Jay San Jose Mercury News
CAMPBELL, Calif. — Criminal investigations often take Campbell police officers to some interesting places, but a recent operation that literally led their work down the toilet might just be one of the strangest.
On Oct. 31, Campbell detectives arrested 42-year-old resident Michael Anthony Arosio on some serious, and confusing, vandalism charges. According to Capt. Dave Carmichael, police believe Arosio is responsible for clogging 20 toilets in public city restroom facilities over the last several weeks.
"We’re still curious as to what his motivation was," Carmichael said, adding that these incidents were no ordinary toilet traumas. "There were wires in there, spoons, electrical cords, all kinds of junk and garbage," Carmichael said.
Lavatories were hit all over the city, including those at Campbell Park, John D. Morgan Park and the Campbell Community Center. To get to the bottom of the rash of restroom crimes, Campbell police decided to use surveillance.
"We installed a camera outside of one of the restrooms that kept getting hit," Carmichael said. "Our detectives went over it, and we saw a guy on camera acting suspicious. He was going in and out of both men’s and women’s restrooms, and you could see him carrying items in and leaving without them."
Detectives captured a photo of the suspect’s face from the footage and showed it to patrol officers, and it didn’t take long for that to lead to an arrest.
"One of our patrol sergeants said, ‘I see that guy all the time riding his bike around.’ About two hours later, he spotted him at W. Campbell and Fulton and stopped him," Carmichael said.
Of the 20-plus total toilet cloggings, police have six documented offenses they allege were done by Arosio.
"Right now we have six we’re looking at and hopefully be charging him with as acts of felony vandalism," Carmichael said.
Clogging a toilet may not sound like a jail- worthy crime, but the method the vandal used resulted in some serious bills for the city. Sometimes Campbell maintenance workers were able to solve the problem themselves, but when clogs reached the main sewage line, rooter services had to be called.
"It cost the city quite a few thousand dollars," Carmichael said.
He couldn’t go into the details, but said that Arosio does have a criminal history. Carmichael also said that Arosio was cooperative with police, but doubts if they’ll ever figure out what was behind his alleged acts.
"I don’t know if we’ll ever really know why he was doing this," he said. "We’re just glad that we have him identified and hopeful that we’ve seen the end of it."
Carmichael added that this case is an example of the proactive work the Campbell Police Department does every day.
"We try in Campbell to investigate everything, whether it’s a city park toilet being plugged or something a lot more serious," he said. "If we devote resources to it, we can stop things from escalating."
Copyright 2011 San Jose Mercury News
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