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CRIME DIGEST
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• FAST FOOD RESTAURANT ROBBED: CERES - The man who robbed a Wienerschnitzel restaurant on Hatch Road late Monday evening got away before police arrived.

At 10:51 p.m. officers were dispatched to 1620 Hatch Road where a female employee said the eatery was just robbed. She said a white male wearing a black jacket, white shirt and black hat was standing at the counter and ordered food. As she opened the cash register he jumped the counter, pushed her to the ground, grabbed money out of the till and ran out the door.

Patrons in the restaurant followed after the man, who didn't produce a weapon, and saw him get into a red Volkswagen Jetta parked behind the store. In an effort to break out the passenger side to get to the suspect, the patron broke the passenger side mirror. The robber and his getaway driver were last seen driving southbound on Richland Avenue.

The robber's age was unknown but he had blond hair, stood approximately 5-foot-8 and weighed 160 pounds. He had bad acne and a distinctive scar on his right cheek.

Anyone with information on the robbery or robber is urged to call Ceres Police Detectives Bureau at 538-5727.

• ATTEMPTED THEFT ARREST MADE: CERES - A resident of the 3000 block of Ambleside Drive stumbled onto a would-be thief in his driveway that led to a police dragnet and arrest.

At 11:09 p.m. on Tuesday, March 9, the resident saw a man rummaging in the bed of his pickup. The suspect ran off without taking anything but the man called police.

Officers Coey Henson and Dennis Perry set up a perimeter around the neighborhood and eventually saw the suspect jumping fences in the 2900 block of Ambleside Drive. They caught the suspect in back yard. Lt. Brent Smith said Kevin Warren, 42, of Modesto, was "seriously under the influence of a controlled substance." Warren was arrested and charged with attempted theft and being under the influence of a controlled substance.

• DUI ARREST: CERES - A 46-year-old Ceres woman was arrested and charged with drunk driving early Friday morning.

At 12:30 a.m. Officer Coey Henson observed a 1988 tan Oldsmobile swerving on South Ninth Street and nearly hit oncoming cars. He followed driver Jonette Cyprien and when she pulled into the Chevron station at Hatch and Herndon he issued her a field sobriety test, which she failed. Cyprien was arrested and charged with DUI.

• BAD CHECK PASSED: CERES - Police arrested Elias Pulido-Pena, 25, of Turlock, after he allegedly passed a bad check at Country Market on Pine Street on Monday afternoon.

At 2 p.m. a clerk called 911 to report that a customer was trying to cash a bad check. He was the same man who passed a bad check at the store on March 12 for $395. Officer Jason Coley was the first to arrive and spotted a green Mitsubishi 3000 in the parking lot occupied by another man, Luis Contreras, 30, of Modesto.

Officer Greg Yotsusya arrived and saw Pulido-Pena leaving the store and attempted to stop him. The suspect refused to stop and was taken to the ground by force. Pulido-Pena was in possession of several credit cards that did not belong to him. Pulido-Pena also was carrying a white powdery substance that may have been methamphetamine. He was arrested and charged with burglary, two counts of passing a fraudulent check and possession of a controlled substance.

Contreras was arrested for warrants.