I think it's just saying that information provided in the John Doe motion to block Google from releasing his identity led them to believe that John Doe was not

I think it's just saying that information provided in the John Doe motion to block Google from releasing his identity led them to believe that John Doe was not the burglar. It's not like the police had any info to rule him out, just some fragment of a location trace or whatever that said he was someone to look into. It could be some guy biking round his neighborhood or some guy who drove in to stalk the neighborhood for a burglary. If they don't know his identity, how can they even know it was his neighborhood? They don't have any reason to exclude him until they have more info.