SAN MARCOS — A young man burglarized the Palomar College Police Department locker room last month in part by wearing a community officer shirt, an officer with the college testified last week.

At Carlos Eduardo Ramirez’s preliminary hearing July 18, Officer Gerard Perez testified he believed the defendant slipped past the secretary sometime around 2 a.m. June 27. He said Ramirez was contacted around 6 a.m. in the locker room and asked to leave the San Marcos campus. Several hours later, Perez said he caught Ramirez back in the men’s locker room with batteries, shoes and glasses scattered in front of a locker.

“It looked like he was sorting (the items) out when I walked up on him,” Perez said.

Ramirez, 22, is charged with burglary, trespassing, impersonating an officer and petty theft with a prior conviction, Deputy District Attorney Jennifer Golovato said.

He faces more than four years in prison if convicted, the lawyer said.

Ramirez’s attorney, Cindy Grim, alluded to the court that her client might be suffering from mental illness and that while he was trespassing he hadn’t planned on removing any of the items from the locker room.

Under cross-examination by Grimm, Perez said Ramirez’s wallet with a payroll check and cash was found in the women’s locker room and that he’d also left some belongings at the transit depot across the street after officers first asked him to leave the campus. She argued that this showed Ramirez wasn’t in his right mind during the incident.

However, Judge Joel Pressman said he believed Ramirez obtained the community officer shirt to give the appearance he belonged there and was allowed to walk out with the property legally.

Pressman set a Sept. 4 trial date.

Ramirez remains in custody in lieu of $35,000 bail.