Sacramento police make arrest after numerous midtown parking meters are broken into

There’s been a spree of parking meter vandalism going on in Sacramento for weeks or longer, but police have finally made an arrest.

Police arrested a man related to an incident involving several damaged parking meters in midtown Sacramento, officials said Saturday.

The Sacramento Police Department responded to the area of 18th Street and Capitol Avenue regarding someone breaking into parking meters at approximately 7:15 a.m. Saturday.

“Several damaged meters were located and a suspect has been arrested related to that incident,” said Police Department spokeswoman Officer Allison Smith.

Smith confirmed that a 34-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of theft, vandalism related charges for the incident.

Smith said the damage to the meters has “been going on for several months”.

“The community has been very helpful with contacting our department,” Smith said. “We try to do as much as we can (and) respond to those calls as soon as possible, so that we are able to catch those people because it has been such a big issue.”

Smith said she believes the break-ins are happening because of the money inside.

“I know a lot of times there’s usually just, kind of, change in there, so it doesn’t seem like a lot,” Smith said. “But if you add up, like all of the meters that have been broken into, you know, thousands of dollars have been stolen.

“So I think it’s more just people trying to get what they can out of them. I don’t think they’re just vandalizing them for fun or anything like that. I think it’s just to get money, unfortunately.”

This story was originally published December 28, 2024 at 5:33 PM.