Jury selection got underway Thursday for the trial of a convicted felon accused of perpetrating a half-dozen residential burglaries throughout the Coachella Valley.
Teddy Kaiser Hartwell, 37, of Palm Springs is charged with six counts of burglary and one count of metals theft.
Hartwell’s case was transferred to the Southwest Justice Center in Murrieta Wednesday due to an overloaded docket at the Larson Justice Center in Indio.
Riverside County Superior Court Judge Stephen Gallon ruled on pretrial motions Wednesday afternoon and Thursday morning, after which he summoned multiple panels of prospective jurors to the Murrieta courthouse for screening as to their availability and qualifications.
The process is expected to continue into early next week.
Hartwell is being held without bail at the nearby Byrd Detention Center.
The defendant was arrested in April 2021, hours after sheriff’s deputies were sent to investigate a burglary on Via Las Flores in Rancho Mirage, according to Sgt. Christopher Ternes.
He said the victim was in his kitchen when he noticed a man prowling inside his home with a flashlight, prompting him to call 911. The burglar fled, hopped into a vehicle and sped off.
Deputies spotted the car about six miles away in the 300 block of North Indian Canyon Drive in Palm Springs and stopped the defendant, according to Ternes.
“Multiple items of stolen property were located during a search of Hartwell’s vehicle and his residence,” the sergeant said.
Investigators were able to link Hartwell to multiple other burglaries in the cities of Palm Desert and Rancho Mirage that occurred over a monthlong span, according to prosecutors.
In Palm Desert, homes were targeted on Oakmont Drive, Augusta Drive, Amid Drive, Woodhaven Drive and Marrakesh Drive. In Rancho Mirage, Hartwell allegedly burglarized properties on Via Haciendas, Seville Court and Porto Cielo Court, according to court papers.
He has documented prior convictions for burglary and robbery.