• FIRE DISPLACES RESIDENTS: CERES - Five Ceres families were assisted by the American Red Cross Wednesday afternoon after a two-alarm fire displaced them in the apartment complex at 1900 block of Evans Road. A total of nine adults and four children were receiving emergency lodging and food as well as comfort items from the American Red Cross.
The 2 p.m. fire, which started in juniper bushes in the front landscaping, destroyed two residential units and damaged two others at the Northland Village Apartments.
A resident of the complex was unable to put out the fire with a garden hose and in a matter of seconds the fire jumped to units 18 and 19.
Assisting Ceres in fighting the blaze were Modesto, Hughson and Stanislaus Consolidated fire departments. Collectively they had the fire out in about a half hour.
Damage for the damaged units was estimated at $100,000 each while the other units sustained about $5,000 in damages each.
• TWO FACE BURGLARY CHARGES: CERES - Two Ceres men face charges of residential burglary and conspiracy after they were seen kicking in the front door of a home in north Ceres and stealing items.
Mario Barela, 21, and Victor Montoya, 21, both of Ceres, were found with stolen electronics, computers, jewelry, cell phones and money taken from the home and another.
At 10 a.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 7, police received a call about the pair burglarizing a home in the 1400 block of Tyrus Street. The caller said the men got into a Honda Accord which was located a short time later by a member of the StanCATT at Ninth and Latimer. A patrol officer pulled over the two on Yosemite Bouelvard in Modesto.
A community service officer noticed the men also had items taken in a burglary which occurred in the 900 block of Oak Grove.
• FELONY HIT AND RUN: CERES - Miguel Santana, 37, of Modesto, faces charges of felony DUI and felony hit and run after he crashed into a car and then a canal early on Saturday morning.
Police said that Santana was driving at 3:05 a.m. when he struck a red 2001 Saturn at Hatch and Mitchell roads and continued eastbound on Hatch. The inebriated driver then allowed his black 2005 Honda Civic to drift into the TID canal at Eastgate Boulevard. The car sank but Santana was treading water and refused orders to swim to the canal's edge. Santana asked officers to kill him and falsely reported that three others were trapped inside the vehicle.
Police pulled the car from the canal but found no victims. Santana was termed "very uncooperative" by Police Lt. Brent Smith.
The driver of the Saturn was transported to the hospital with chest pains.
• STOLEN PICKUP FOUND IN CANAL: CERES - A 2004 Dodge pickup taken Saturday from the parking lot of La Cueva bar on Central Avenue later turned up in a canal off of Gondring Road.
The truck was discovered by the California Highway Patrol at 11:21 p.m. on Saturday. Police have no idea who took the pickup earlier in the day.
• AUTO THEFTS SUSPECTS GET AWAY: CERES - Two males escaped police capture after they were spotted recklessly riding in and ditched a stolen 1992 Honda Accord on Wednesday evening, Sept. 7.
At 11:30 p.m. Officer Brian Ferreira saw a car speeding southbound on Moffet Avenue at Fowler. He gave chase at the car - stolen from Richland Avenue - and the driver eventually stopped in the area of Rose and Hummingbird. Both occupants bailed on foot while allowing the car to continue moving a half block where it collided with a parked fifth-wheeler in the 1900 block of Rose Avenue.
Police were unable to locate the suspects who were last seen hopping fences. They were described as Latino, in their late teens and wearing white shirts and blue jeans.
• MAN TASERED IN BOOZE THEFT: CERES - A suspect who allegedly stole a bottle of liquor Thursday ended up fighting with police, being Tasered and arrested and booked.
Cost Less Foods personnel called police at noon over William Hicks, 30, of Ceres, who was seen taking liquor without paying for it. Hicks allegedly ran out of the store as a bottle of liquor fell to the floor. When he began to fight officers, Hicks was hit with a Taser gun.
He was taken by ambulance to Doctors Medical Center and released to face charges of commercial burglary, resisting or delaying an officer and being under the influence of a controlled substance.
• STORE DOOR SMASHED: CERES - An unknown suspect smashed the front door of Kmart on Hatch Road early on Thursday and made it to the jewelry counter area. Police are unsure what, if anything, was taken.
The crime occurred at approximately 2:48 a.m.
• INJURY CRASH: CERES - Motorcyclist Jose Esquivel, 44, of Long Beach, sustained a broken arm and leg and foot injuries when a driver violated his right of way at Service Road at Mitchell Road on Thursday evening.
Esquivel was eastbound on Service Road and cut off by a 31-year-old Ceres driver who made a sudden left turn in front of him on the way to the 7-Eleven parking lot. The crash took place at 9:15 p.m.
The Ceres man was not licensed to drover. He was cited and his 2002 BMW was towed.
• PURSUIT STARTS OVER CARDBOARD THEFT: CERES - A reported theft of cardboard ended in a police pursuit and assault on officers Friday afternoon.
At 3:41 p.m. Cost Less Foods reported men were stealing cardboard from behind their store at 1610 Hatch Road. Officers arrived and two men began to flee in a black 2000 GMC Sierra pulling a trailer loaded with cardboard. The driver was identified as Eddie Solis, 30, of Ceres, and his passenger as Horacio Ricardes, 28, of Merced. The two went eastbound through the parking lot, and failed to yield to other vehicles. The driver began swerving back and forth which caused the cardboard pile to fall off the trailer and struck a vehicle.
The chase entered high speeds and went onto Giddings Street, Paramount Avenue, and Bridgewater Drive. The pursuing officer believed that the driver was attempting to shake the trailer loose to better outrun patrol vehicles. At one point the truck rolled across a sidewalk.
The chase entered Manny Court at a high rate of speed and when it reached the end, the suspects fled on foot. Officer Brian Albonetti gave chase to Solis, who grabbed a piece of broken fence board and used it as a weapon. Albonetti's baton broke the plank. Solis allegedly threw the other half of the board at the officer. Officer James Yandell arrived at that point. Solis was struck with baton and used a piece of board against the officers until he was arrested.
Ricardes was apprehended a short time later on Darrah Street.
Police later learned that the two had a loaded gun inside the vehicle and the pickup was stolen Sept. 9 in Merced.
Solis was treated at a local hospital for injuries and then booked on charges of leading officers on a pursuit, parole violation, possession of stolen property and hit and run.
Ricardes was booked for possession of stolen property.
The 2 p.m. fire, which started in juniper bushes in the front landscaping, destroyed two residential units and damaged two others at the Northland Village Apartments.
A resident of the complex was unable to put out the fire with a garden hose and in a matter of seconds the fire jumped to units 18 and 19.
Assisting Ceres in fighting the blaze were Modesto, Hughson and Stanislaus Consolidated fire departments. Collectively they had the fire out in about a half hour.
Damage for the damaged units was estimated at $100,000 each while the other units sustained about $5,000 in damages each.
• TWO FACE BURGLARY CHARGES: CERES - Two Ceres men face charges of residential burglary and conspiracy after they were seen kicking in the front door of a home in north Ceres and stealing items.
Mario Barela, 21, and Victor Montoya, 21, both of Ceres, were found with stolen electronics, computers, jewelry, cell phones and money taken from the home and another.
At 10 a.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 7, police received a call about the pair burglarizing a home in the 1400 block of Tyrus Street. The caller said the men got into a Honda Accord which was located a short time later by a member of the StanCATT at Ninth and Latimer. A patrol officer pulled over the two on Yosemite Bouelvard in Modesto.
A community service officer noticed the men also had items taken in a burglary which occurred in the 900 block of Oak Grove.
• FELONY HIT AND RUN: CERES - Miguel Santana, 37, of Modesto, faces charges of felony DUI and felony hit and run after he crashed into a car and then a canal early on Saturday morning.
Police said that Santana was driving at 3:05 a.m. when he struck a red 2001 Saturn at Hatch and Mitchell roads and continued eastbound on Hatch. The inebriated driver then allowed his black 2005 Honda Civic to drift into the TID canal at Eastgate Boulevard. The car sank but Santana was treading water and refused orders to swim to the canal's edge. Santana asked officers to kill him and falsely reported that three others were trapped inside the vehicle.
Police pulled the car from the canal but found no victims. Santana was termed "very uncooperative" by Police Lt. Brent Smith.
The driver of the Saturn was transported to the hospital with chest pains.
• STOLEN PICKUP FOUND IN CANAL: CERES - A 2004 Dodge pickup taken Saturday from the parking lot of La Cueva bar on Central Avenue later turned up in a canal off of Gondring Road.
The truck was discovered by the California Highway Patrol at 11:21 p.m. on Saturday. Police have no idea who took the pickup earlier in the day.
• AUTO THEFTS SUSPECTS GET AWAY: CERES - Two males escaped police capture after they were spotted recklessly riding in and ditched a stolen 1992 Honda Accord on Wednesday evening, Sept. 7.
At 11:30 p.m. Officer Brian Ferreira saw a car speeding southbound on Moffet Avenue at Fowler. He gave chase at the car - stolen from Richland Avenue - and the driver eventually stopped in the area of Rose and Hummingbird. Both occupants bailed on foot while allowing the car to continue moving a half block where it collided with a parked fifth-wheeler in the 1900 block of Rose Avenue.
Police were unable to locate the suspects who were last seen hopping fences. They were described as Latino, in their late teens and wearing white shirts and blue jeans.
• MAN TASERED IN BOOZE THEFT: CERES - A suspect who allegedly stole a bottle of liquor Thursday ended up fighting with police, being Tasered and arrested and booked.
Cost Less Foods personnel called police at noon over William Hicks, 30, of Ceres, who was seen taking liquor without paying for it. Hicks allegedly ran out of the store as a bottle of liquor fell to the floor. When he began to fight officers, Hicks was hit with a Taser gun.
He was taken by ambulance to Doctors Medical Center and released to face charges of commercial burglary, resisting or delaying an officer and being under the influence of a controlled substance.
• STORE DOOR SMASHED: CERES - An unknown suspect smashed the front door of Kmart on Hatch Road early on Thursday and made it to the jewelry counter area. Police are unsure what, if anything, was taken.
The crime occurred at approximately 2:48 a.m.
• INJURY CRASH: CERES - Motorcyclist Jose Esquivel, 44, of Long Beach, sustained a broken arm and leg and foot injuries when a driver violated his right of way at Service Road at Mitchell Road on Thursday evening.
Esquivel was eastbound on Service Road and cut off by a 31-year-old Ceres driver who made a sudden left turn in front of him on the way to the 7-Eleven parking lot. The crash took place at 9:15 p.m.
The Ceres man was not licensed to drover. He was cited and his 2002 BMW was towed.
• PURSUIT STARTS OVER CARDBOARD THEFT: CERES - A reported theft of cardboard ended in a police pursuit and assault on officers Friday afternoon.
At 3:41 p.m. Cost Less Foods reported men were stealing cardboard from behind their store at 1610 Hatch Road. Officers arrived and two men began to flee in a black 2000 GMC Sierra pulling a trailer loaded with cardboard. The driver was identified as Eddie Solis, 30, of Ceres, and his passenger as Horacio Ricardes, 28, of Merced. The two went eastbound through the parking lot, and failed to yield to other vehicles. The driver began swerving back and forth which caused the cardboard pile to fall off the trailer and struck a vehicle.
The chase entered high speeds and went onto Giddings Street, Paramount Avenue, and Bridgewater Drive. The pursuing officer believed that the driver was attempting to shake the trailer loose to better outrun patrol vehicles. At one point the truck rolled across a sidewalk.
The chase entered Manny Court at a high rate of speed and when it reached the end, the suspects fled on foot. Officer Brian Albonetti gave chase to Solis, who grabbed a piece of broken fence board and used it as a weapon. Albonetti's baton broke the plank. Solis allegedly threw the other half of the board at the officer. Officer James Yandell arrived at that point. Solis was struck with baton and used a piece of board against the officers until he was arrested.
Ricardes was apprehended a short time later on Darrah Street.
Police later learned that the two had a loaded gun inside the vehicle and the pickup was stolen Sept. 9 in Merced.
Solis was treated at a local hospital for injuries and then booked on charges of leading officers on a pursuit, parole violation, possession of stolen property and hit and run.
Ricardes was booked for possession of stolen property.
