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CRIME DIGEST
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SHOOTING OUTSIDE OF BAR: CERES - Police detectives were busy Sunday night and early Monday morning piecing together clues in a shooting battle outside of Latino's Bar in the 2100 block of Mitchell Road.

Police received a call Sunday at 11:19 p.m. about a fight in the parking lot. Shots were fired during the fight. Police arrived and stopped one car leaving the scene and learned that the occupant was a victim who had been kicked.

Detectives believe that a gunfight ensued between a group of three persons against two. Police found casing from .40- and .45-caliber handguns in the parking lot.

No weapons were located as of press time and nobody had shown up at local hospitals with gunshot wounds.

DRUNK SUSPECT TAKES PURSE: CERES - A 49-year-old Ceres woman was cited and released for petty theft and public drunkenness at the Midway Club bar on Mitchell Road on Thursday evening.

Police said Cynthia Rasler became extremely intoxicated - requiring a visit to the hospital - and took the bartender's purse which had been stored behind the bar. A fight ensued when several subjects tried to detain Rasler.

Police were called to the bar at 10:56 p.m.

DUI CHARGED: CERES - Sarah Respecki, 31, of Modesto, was arrested for DUI Friday evening after allegedly hitting another vehicle at Hatch and Mitchell roads.

Witnesses said Respecki hit a car at 10:58 p.m. She was followed as the witness called 911. Police caught up with the suspect at Central and Taylor. Because the other vehicle left the scene, police did not charge her with hit and run.

KNIFE PULLED IN BOOZE THEFT: CERES - A security guard at Cost Less Foods in Ceres was threatened with a knife after he stopped three youth who were stealing alcoholic beverages.

The incident happened at 3:31 p.m.

All three suspects got away when one of them whistled to summon an accomplice who ran up with a knife.

Employees saw two females stuffing bottles of rum into their clothing and walk out of the store. When the three were confronted by the security guard, the second man showed up and produced a three- to four-inch pocket knife and demanded that his friend be released.

The four suspects will be charged with robbery if apprehended. The first male was described as Hispanic, 19 years old, 5-foot-10, 140 pounds wearing a red basketball jersey and black pants. The females were about 17 or 18 years old, one wearing a jean skirt and the other wearing a jean jacket.

The suspect with the knife was described as 24, 6-foot tall, 240 pounds, and wearing a black hat.

The men took off running Home Depot. The two females escaped another direction.

FOUR DUI CRASHES ON SUNDAY: CERES - Police arrested four persons Sunday in separate DUI crashes.

The first incident occurred at 2:48 a.m. in the 2800 block of Garrison Avenue. Daniel Enriquez III, 19, of Ceres, was arrested after he allegedly ran his car into a tree. Because a 17-year-old female passenger sustained injuries in the crash Enrique was charged with felon DUI.

The second crash occurred at 3:33 a.m. when Fernando Arrez, 24, of Modesto, sideswiped the concrete barriers on Whitmore Avenue west of the Whitmore/99 overpass. An officer came upon the scene and saw that Arrez's car was straddling both lanes as he attempted to place his car into gear.

He was arrested and charged with DUI.

The third crash was at around 6:30 a.m. when Juan Montiel-Cruz, 32, of Ceres, smashed his blue Ford Taurus into a parked flat-bed pickup at Giddings and Richland. Officer Chris Perry saw that the driver was passed out drunk behind the wheel and his engine still running. A cold beer was sitting in the cup holder next to his seat. Montiel-Cruz was awakened and arrested for DUI.

The other crash occurred at 1:47 p.m. Cosiah Sparks, 56, of Ceres, got into her car in the parking lot of the Midway Club and put the car into drive instead of reverse. Sparks' car lurched into a chain-link fence. An officer witnessed the crash.

CAR AIMED AT RAMPS: CERES - Police were unable to arrest the person who aimed a running car - possibly stolen - toward a makeshift dirt bike ramp and took off Sunday.

Police were called at 6:29 a.m. to the area behind Kragen's Auto Parts in the 1300 block of Hatch Road with complaints that someone was spinning donuts in the dirt. When officers arrived they found a car stuck on a raised berm that was set up as a bicycle jump ramp. The car was running with no keys in the ignition and a cement block jammed against the accelerator. Police theorize that someone wanted to see the car sail over the ramp but the vehicle became stuck with damage to the transmission.

A male juvenile wearing a white hat was seen running from the area.