By allowing ads to appear on this site, you support the local businesses who, in turn, support great journalism.
Ceres Police deal with weekend of bizarre cases
Placeholder Image
Things got crazy this weekend for Ceres Police. So much so that Ceres Police Division Commander Mike Borges called Sunday "the Sunday from hell."

The incidences were thick, and at times bizarre.

The weekend got off on a shaky foot with a drive-by shooting Friday evening in the 2700 block of Malik Drive in Westpointe. Police responded to the 9:47 p.m. call and found four rounds had struck the front door of a residence. There were no injuries. Police were unable to obtain a description of the vehicle used in the shooting.

Slightly more than 25 hours later, police responded to a call of a man who was threatening to kill himself in the 3000 block of Central Avenue. During the 10:56 p.m. Saturday call, dispatchers heard a female caller and an extremely intoxicated male in the background arguing and fighting over the phone. The woman said her husband was threatening to kill himself. When officers arrived moments later they saw the couple in the front yard. The pregnant female was attempting to keep the man from accessing a knife inside of a car in front of the residence.

Officers warned the man to stop but he refused, said Borges. That's when they tasered him to the ground. He was taken into custody and placed on a mental health evaluation hold.

Stolen vehicle recovered

A string of incidents greeted officers Sunday starting at 7:15 a.m. when Officer Travis Hudson was patrolling Gondring Road and spotted a suspicious 1991 Chevy pickup parked at a canal bank. The driver saw the officer and attempted to drive off but became stuck. Two occupants bolted on foot, one of them being Nicholas Avila, 19, apprehended and charged with possession of a stolen vehicle. He had prior theft conviction, making him eligible for prosecution as a felony, said Borges. The vehicle had been stolen Sept. 22.

Suicide threatened

At 10:17 a.m. Sunday, police were called to the 1900 block of Sequoia Avenue where another wife was calling about a suicidal husband. The wife told dispatchers that she hid a .22-caliber rifle from the man but that he took a handful of pills in an attempt to take his life.

Officers arrived and called for an ambulance to take him to the hospital to be treated for a possible overdose.

An officer slightly injured two fingers as the subject was wrestled into custody.

Wanted for sex crimes

At 1:46 p.m., Officer Keith Kitcher spotted juveniles smoking marijuana in Smyrna Park. As he was doing a pat-down search, the suspect began running away but was apprehended in a backyard in the 2300 block of Leslie. The officer tried to taser the suspect but one prong missed and it failed to work.

Anthony Wiley, 19, of Ceres, was wanted for two felony warrants for sexual battery. He was also charged with resisting arrest and investigation of being under the influence of cocaine.

Berserk with a bat

At 6:23 p.m., officers responded to a call of a woman who was going berserk, breaking out windows of a Kinser Road house and vehicles with a baseball bat. Enroute to the scene, Officer Brian Ferreira spotted Stephanie Sainz, 30, driving her car through a stop sign at Blaker and Kinser and plow into the side of a garage in the 1700 block of Kinser Road. The impact ripped loose a gas meter. Officer Ferreira detained Sainz, who was the same woman wanted in the destruction of property call.

"Apparently she was angry with her boyfriend," said Police Division Commander Mike Borges. "They had been drinking at a local establishment. She got angry and went home. She batted out the windows of the house and cars in the driveway as three small children witnessed the rage."

Sainz was charged with driving while intoxicated, child endangerment, vandalism and resisting arrest.

As they were securing the scene of the crash, officers saw a vehicle drive through the caution tape set up around the perimeter. An officer tried to stop Ilya Kucher, 43, of Ceres, but the driver floored it in reverse and nearly hit a parked car before taking off.

A second unit chased after Kucher, who eventually stopped at McKittrick Court. Apparently Kucher tried to punch the accelerator, said Borges, but he was in park and didn't go anywhere. Officers grabbed him and arrested Kucher for DUI. His arrest came at 7:40 p.m.

Combative at trailer park

Another case of rage came in Sunday evening when a mobilehome resident in the 3600 block of Ninth Street reported that his neighbor was going crazy, destroying furniture and tossing things outside. Some of the stuff landed on the caller's car. Officers had trouble finding the subject during the first visit but saw blood on broken glass at the unit. Officers returned to search again for the man. Officers were near the street when they saw a 46-year-old man walk towards them carrying a shovel across his chest. The man, described as uncooperative and combative, did not follow officers' commands to drop the shovel as he raised it and was tasered to the ground.

"He was combative to hospital personnel and his behavior was erratic, so he was taken to Mental Health," said Borges.

One officer sustained a minor injury in subduing the man. His identity was not released.