Back in July of 2011, Alex Trabek was staying in San Francisco because he had speaking engagements in the bay area. While he was staying in the bay area, it is alleged that a woman, Linda Moyers, broke into his hotel room and stole a bracelet, a purse, as well as $661 in cash. The purse, which belonged to Alex Trebek’s wife, was found under the 26th floor ice machine and Trebek’s wallet was found under the 25th floor ice machine. However, the bracelet and the $661 were never recovered, even after a full strip search of the suspect by San Francisco Police officers.

Alex Trebek initially wrote the July 26 incident off as a dream but when he opened his eyes, he saw that his hotel door was open and he saw a woman with black boots and messy hair walking away from the room. Trebek then chased the 56 year old suspect down the hall. While he was chasing her, 71 year old Trebek ruptured his achilies tendon and had to limp back to his room. However, he was able to alert security once he got back to his room and Moyers was stopped at the ground floor before she exited. When Trebek arrived at the ground floor, he positively identified Ms. Moyers as the woman that was standing by the dresser in his hotel and the same woman that he saw walking away from the scene in the hallway.

Ms. Moyers was then arrested for burglary and a preliminary hearing was subsequently heard. At the preliminary hearing, Alex Trebek did not testify. However, Judge Andrew Cheng ruled that there was enough evidence to hold Ms. Moyers for trial. Ms. Moyers was then returned to the San Francisco main jail and is being held on $625,000 bail.

At the preliminary hearing, Mark Jacobs, the deputy public defender representing Ms. Moyers, argued that the hotel security and staff tainted the identification that Mr. Trebek made of the suspect by having Mr. Trebek identify Ms. Moyers in the lobby. Mark Jacobs argued that Ms. Moyers was working as a prostitute and had been wandering the hallway after her "john" did not answer the knocks on his door.

The public defender went on to state that "I think there are some real problems with this case," Jacobs said. "The stolen property was never recovered. The door wasn't broken into. To me, it sounds more like an inside job." However, Ms. Moyers has been convicted of three other hotel burglaries since 1990. The present case makes her eligible to be tried under the "three strikes" legislation but District Attorney George Gascon said that he would not pursue this case as a three strikes case at this time.

Since the case passed the preliminary hearing stage of proceedings, Ms. Moyers may be looking at taking this case to trial. The next step in the proceedings is trial if they are unable to settle the case. This case may be a good candidate for trial given the arguments made by the defense attorney above.