An interrupted holiday burglary in Mill Valley led to the arrest of four teenagers, including one from a prominent West Marin family. On Dec. 19, around 1:35 p.m., Nicolo Giacomini, 18, of San Geronimo, and three others allegedly broke into a home on Reed Circle, a cluster of million-dollar homes on a hilltop in the Strawberry area. When the resident returned home, the four boys shoved the victim to the ground and fled. She was able to describe them, and other witnesses identified where the suspects were last seen. Deputies found Mr. Giacomini alone under the deck of a home on Richardson Drive; the others were spotted running in Tiburon. While searching the suspect’s vehicle in front of the home, deputies found stolen rings, necklaces and an iPhone from a residence on Seminary Drive that had been burglarized an hour earlier. The car was registered to Mr. Giacomini’s relative Anthony Giacomini, of Woodacre. Nicolo, grandson of Gary Giacomini—a county supervisor for more than two decades and namesake of the open space preserve in the Valley—was booked on charges of robbery, burglary, receiving stolen property, possession of burglary tools and conspiracy. A 6’2”, 230-pound basketball and football player when he was at Drake High, Nicolo was home on winter break from his first semester at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo, according to Facebook. His profile lists work experience at Hanson Bridgett, a law firm where Gary is a partner, and at the Buck Institute for Age Research in Novato, one of the law firm’s clients. “Mr. Giacomini is a good kid,” his defense attorney, Douglas Horngrad, told the Marin Independent-Journal. “Sometimes young men do foolish things.” Nicolo was released from custody shortly after his arrest when bail was posted. Two of the other suspects—Jabari Ali Bryant, 18, a student from San Francisco, and Lorenzo Cook, 18, a cashier from San Anselmo—are still in jail with bail set at $50,000. The fourth suspect, a juvenile, was booked into juvenile hall. Nicolo will have formal charges presented against him at a felony arraignment on Tuesday.
This article was corrected on Jan. 10. We previously identified Anthony Giacomini, Nicolo’s relative, as a firefighter; he is not.