RIALTO- She targeted homes with open or unlocked doors - casually walkinginto the dwellings late at night or in the wee hours and taking purses,wallets and other small items she could quickly make off with.

For more than a month, police suspect 21-year-old transientKatrice Nichole Smart burglarized at least 10 homes in the area ofRiverside and Etiwanda avenues, making off with mostly cash shepilfered from wallets and purses while residents slept in their beds,police said.

But sometimes the sounds of a burglar sifting throughpossessions roused residents from their slumber. One resident caughtthe suspected burglar in the act and tried to detain her, but she brokefree and ran off. On other occasions when she was caught in the act,she was able to flee before police arrived, Rialto police Sgt. ReinhardBurkholder said.

About 9 p.m. Tuesday, Smart's luck ran out. The RialtoPolice Department's Street Crime Attack Team located her at an EastJackson Street apartment, where she had been staying with anacquaintance, and arrested her.

"During an interview, she admitted to at least five of ourburglaries," Burkholder said. "And then she also told us that thepurses and wallets that she did take, she would take the money out ofthem and discard the purse or wallet into a trash can."

Before the woman's arrest, police asked employees atseveral convenience stores in the area if they'd seen anyone matchingthe description of the suspected burglar.

"One of the workers said a person fitting the descriptionhad been in the store and was causing a problem, and they startedtaking pictures of her," Burkholder said, adding that the pictures weregiven to detectives, who then circulated them around the departmentasking if anyone recognized or had contact with the woman.

Cpl. John Black recognized the woman as someone he had aprior run-in with on the street, and gave detectives a name. Furtherinvestigation led police to the East Jackson Street apartment complexwhere Smart had been staying, Burkholder said.

Smart, who has several criminal convictions dating back to2003 including two petty thefts, burglary, and battery, was booked intothe West Valley Detention Center in Rancho Cucamonga on suspicion ofburglary. She is expected to be arraigned Monday in Fontana SuperiorCourt.

Contact writer Joe Nelson at (909) 386-3887 or via e-mail at joe.nelson@sbsun.com.