BOY'S ILLNESS MAY BE LINKED TO POISONED CANDY - Police were unable to determine if a 12-year-old Ceres boy's stomach pain and vomiting was related to an incidence of Halloween candy poisoning on Friday morning.
The boy, who lives in an apartment complex at 1625 Richland Avenue, woke up feeling ill and hospital staff concluded the boy did have traces of arsenic in his system. The mother insisted the boy was poisoned from candy he obtained while trick or treating but he claimed he never ate it.
"We have no idea where it may have come from," said Deputy Chief Mike Borges. "It's a very strange case."
These are other cases Ceres Police Department worked on in the past week:
• TEENS ARRESTED FOR BREAKING INTO CARS: - Two Modesto teenagers were arrested on Monday, Oct. 28 after they were seen breaking into a car in the 3800 block of Georgeanne Place.
A resident called 9-1-1 at 12:16 p.m. to report two Hispanic males lifting up the door handles on cars on the block and entering his own car. The victim followed the males after they left the car but lost sight of them in the area of Don Pedro Park.
Officer Steve Carvalho located the pair in the 2000 block of Walnut Avenue and was brought back to the scene where they were positively identified. Arrested on attempted auto theft charges were Sergio Zuniga, 18, of Modesto, and a 17-year-old Latino male from Modesto.
Officers found the car that had been entered with a broken key in the ignition.
• WARRANT ARREST AT WALMART - Robert Brown, 41, of Modesto, was booked on the warrants after Walmart loss prevention officers reported Wednesday that he was shoplifting and detained.
The store called at 6:52 p.m. but decided to not press charges because Brown was off to jail anyway for violating the terms of his probation for drug related charges.
• TWO ARRESTED AT STORE - Nita Durham, 41, of Modesto, was cited and released after allegedly stealing $43 worth of items at the Factory 2 U store on Hatch Road.
The arrest came at 8:53 p.m. on Wednesday.
A male companion with her, Matthew Harris, 39, of Modesto, had four misdemeanor warrants.
• TRANSIENT ARRESTED - Reports of two suspicious men hanging out behind the Wienerschnitzel restaurant on Hatch Road on Wednesday evening resulted in the arrest of one for warrants.
Police were called at 9:06 p.m. They found Samuel Bell, 42, who was wanted for petty theft warrants issued by Ceres and Modesto police as well as the Sheriff's Department. He was also wanted for failing to report to the Alternative Work Program.
• WARRANT ARREST MADE - Police arrested Gabriel Hernandez, 36, of Ceres, for a Mariposa County traffic warrant after they checked out four suspicious men in a car behind the Factory 2 U in the 1400 block of Hacth Road on Thursday.
The arrest was made at 11:51 p.m.
• REPORTS OF SHOTS UNCONFIRMED - Police were called about possible shots being fired at 12:40 a.m. on Oct. 31 in the 2400 block of Kona Lane but police found no evidence of gunfire.
An ex-boyfriend of a woman visiting a male at the home was identified as a possible source for the shots.
• FAMILY PIZZA FIGHT - Patrons of Family Pizza in the Richland Shopping Center created the only problems for Ceres police on Halloween night with a fight and the arrest of intoxicated persons.
"They kept us busy," said Deputy Chief Mike Borges.
At 1:30 a.m. on Frioday a fight broke out involving approximately 20 persons. Police arrived and found 100 gathered outside and 50 inside.
"Everybody was pretty intoxicated," said Borges, adding that one person was lying on the ground and claiming he fell due to intoxication. Police determined however that there had been mutual combat.
Police determined that Brian Krigbaum, 28, of Ceres, and Robert Quinonez, 37, of San Jose, had been fighting and arrested them for public intoxication. A third arrest came when James Jack, 53, of Ceres, was told to move along but hid behind a sign. Borges said that Jack was "so drunk he was talking on a cell phone that had been turned off."
At 3:07 a.m. police were called back to Family Pizza. Patrons had moved to an area in front of Dollar General where five were fighting a female on the ground. Borges said that a vehicle was trying to leave the area by men who believed that driver Jessica Morrison, 29, of Ceres, was intoxicated. As they tried to stop her from leaving she allegedly backed over one of the males causing serious leg injury. Morrison was arrested on charges of felony hit and run and DUI.
• STOLEN PICKUP FOUND - A 2003 Chevy pickup truck stolen from Waynesboro Drive was located by police on Friday after a staff member from the Lojack anti-theft system reported a signal and its whereabouts.
Officers initially tried to search the area of Service and Blaker roads by sight but were unsuccessful. Officer Jeremy Caron then got into a patrol car that is equipped to find Lojack cars and found the pickup. No suspects were found linked to the vehicle after it was found in the 3100 block of McGee Road.
• MISUSE OF 9-1-1 CITATION GIVEN: CERES - Colleen Campbell, 55, of Ceres, was cited for misusing the 9-1-1 reporting system on Friday after she was warned once to not call about a neighbor's dog being too large for the Las Casitas Mobile Home Park.
Campbell was told to quit calling the emergency line with such a petty issue and cited at 9:46 p.m. after she called a total of three times.
• GUN AT FLEA MARKET - Occupants of a fight at the El Rematito Flea Market on Crows Landing Road apparently pulled a fast one on police who responded to reports of them being in a Sunday fight with the brandishing of a handgun.
Officers investigated the 3 p.m. call where security officers had detained two men. They told police that they knew each other and did not want to press charges. They also denied any handgun was used. The men were ordered to leave.
However, 20 minutes later one of the men returned and was seen retrieving a handgun that he hid on the grounds. However, because the security guard called too late and failed to get a vehicle description and direction of travel, the suspect got away.
• CRASH SHUTS DOWN POWER - Electrical service was halted for hours between Hatch Road and Whitmore Avenue when a power utility box was struck on Mitchell Road early Monday morning.
The single-vehicle crash occurred at 12:35 a.m. at Mitchell Road and Roswell Way when a 2012 Nissan drifted because the driver fell asleep. Driver Rita Acuna, 26, of Riverbank, fell asleep at the wheel and allowed the car to drift, strike the box and roll over. Two other occupants, including a five-year-old child, sustained minor injuries.
• ELDER ABUSE ALLEGED - An adult daughter and her boyfriend were arrested Monday afternoon after police checked out a report of possible elder abuse at the Westward-Ho Mobile Home Park at 3550 Mitchell Road.
At 2:30 p.m. police showed up at the home of a 89-year-old male who was unable to care for himself and showing signs of neglect. Adult Protective Services was notified and police secured an emergency protection order for the man to keep daughter Charlene Boeh, 41, and Richard Pomares, 43, away from him.
Boeh was arrested on a warrant while Pomares was arrested for refusing to obey the protection order and for resisting arrest when police tried to arrest him.
Deputy Police Chief Mike Borges said that the trailer yielded a credit card making machine and several blanks credit cards which has opened an investigation into possible fraud.
• MARIJUANA SALES ALLEGED: CERES - Two Ceres men were arrested Monday evening after they were found with a large amount of marijuana during a citizen's call about suspicious activity near vehicles.
At 8:48 p.m. Officer Ross Bays was dispatched to the area of Burton Drive and Belva Court for suspicious people parked in the area. Bays located three cars and six subjects as well as two pounds of marijuana and evidence of sales.
Francisco Bernal Jr., 19, of Ceres, was arrested on charges of possession of marijuana for sales and transportation of marijuana for sales.
Also arrested on charges of transportation of marijuana for sales was Juan Bernal, 20, of Ceres.
• STOLEN CAR LOCATED: - Cory Prather, 30, of Modesto, was arrested Tuesday morning at 1:35 a.m. on charges of auto theft and possession of stolen property.
Prather was located at Hatch Road and Richland Avenue in a green 2002 Mazda stolen at 7 p.m. on Monday in Modesto. Officer Joe Wren followed the vehicle to the apartments at 1625 Richand Avenue where the arrest was made.
Prather was part of the state's Post Community Release Supervision.
