Young Girls Used Google Hangouts to Get Help After Burglar Breaks Into California Home
A stranger climbed into their house after forcing open a bedroom window.
— -- Two quick-thinking California girls managed to escape from an intruder and get help by using their cellphones and the Google hangout app to send a text while they hid in the bathroom, according to police.
The girls, ages 8 and 14, spotted the suspect, later identified as 23-year-old Jose Carlos Palomares, in the backyard of their Fresno, California home Thursday morning, the Fresno Police Department told ABC News in a statement.
Palomares then "forced open a rear bedroom window and used a chair to climb into the residence," where he filled backpacks with over $400 in cash, clothes belonging to the girls' father and an electronic tablet, police said.
The girls, who went unnoticed by Palomares, hid in a bathroom, where they quickly used the Google Hangouts app on one of their phones to text their dad's girlfriend, police said. The girlfriend then immediately contacted authorities.
Police formed a perimeter around the residence, and though Palomares tried to run out the residence's back door with his backpacks filled with the stolen property out the, he was immediately arrested, police said.
The girl's father, who declined to give his name, rushed home in time to see the arrest, ABC News affiliate KGO reported.
"They are fine, they are both fine," he told KGO. "They did the right thing. They locked themselves into the bathroom. They are good girls."
He added, "It's a scary situation. We were just talking about getting a dog last weekend, I guess we will be doing that today."
Palomares was charged with burglary and possession of stolen property and later booked at the Fresno County Jail, according to police.
The Fresno County District Attorney's Office told ABC News that additional information, such as if Palomares had a lawyer, was not immediately available.
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