Cell tower data and license plate readers were used to find the suspect.
A man in Southern California has been arrested for allegedly stealing from three area hospitals. But the things he stole weren’t your run-of-the-mill items. The man made off with about $300,000 in surgical equipment and skin grafts, according to the Mercury News.
Jason Brauner, a 47-year-old man from San Jacinto, California, allegedly posed as a hospital employee to pilfer the highly unusual property. The Riverside County Sheriff said in a press release that Brauner was arrested on Aug. 6 and charged with commercial burglary, grand theft, and receiving stolen property.
Brauner was first identified as a suspect on July 9, 2025, after a theft of medical equipment at Eisenhower Health, a hospital in Rancho Mirage, not far from Joshua Tree National Park. The San Diego County Sheriff’s Office deputies stopped Brauner’s vehicle on Aug.
