A man who was sustained serious knife stab wounds to the neck and chest on a Darrah Street sidewalk was uncooperative with police who seek an arrest of his assailant.
The stabbing occurred at 8:22 p.m. on Friday, June 7 in front of apartments at 1951 Darrah Street. Officers Coey Henson and Kiashira Ruiz arrived prior to ambulance personnel and located Russell Bilyeu, 34, sitting on his knees and clutching onto his neck. The officers applied direct pressure over three bleeding stab wounds to his neck until paramedics arrived. Bilyeu had also been stabbed in the upper chest.
Bilyeu refused to give officers details but witnesses said they saw six people drinking in the spot prior to the stabbing. Bilyeu was rushed to Memorial Medical Center where he underwent surgery.
Detectives are investigating the case. Anyone with information is urged to call the Ceres Police Detectives Bureau at 538-5727.
In other noteworthy crimes the following incidences were reported on the Ceres Courier's CRIME DIGEST:
• SHOPLIFTER CHASED INTO NEIGHBORHOOD: CERES - A man accused of shoplifting in the CVS store on Hatch Road on Wednesday, June 12, was arrested after he ran into a nearby residential area jumping fences in an attempt to get away.
Someone called 9-1-1 at 5:30 p.m. to report that the shoplifting suspect, Brandon Mize, 32, of Ceres, was taking items inside the store and may have been armed with a handgun in his waistband. Mize was spotted near the store and bolted when he saw officers. Mize ran through the JFK special education campus with Officer Jon Vera chasing. Police set up a perimeter and several times Mize was seen jumping fences in the Chardonnay Way area. At one point Mize ran into the garage at 1225 Central Avenue before he was apprehended in the backyard at 1200 Chardonnay Way.
Mize was found with a syringe loaded with drugs. A toy gun had been dropped by the suspect in the yard.
Police found stolen merchandise ditched by Mize in the backyard of 1225 Central Avenue.
Mize faces charges of robbery, possession of a controlled substance, trespassing, violation of probation and obstructing or delaying an officer.
• DRUGS FOUND IN BIKE STOP: CERES - Albert Gil, 50, of Ceres, was arrested after he was stopped by an officer at 2 p.m. on Sunday and seen throwing a plastic baggie filled with methamphetamine.
Gil was riding a bicycle in the 1700 block of Richland Avenue when he was stopped. Gil reached into his pocket and threw the bag in an attempt to distance himself from the evidence but he was seen.
Gil faces a charge of possession of methamphetamine.
• ILLEGAL ALIEN FOUND WITH DRUGS: CERES - A Mexican national in the country illegally driving without a license was pulled over by a Ceres officer on Tuesday, June 11 and found carrying two small bags of methamphetamine in his pocket.
Officer James Riley made the traffic stop at 7:58 a.m. in the 1300 block of Hatch Road. Driver Honorio Basurto, 39, of Modesto, was arrested for possession of methamphetamine and an immigration hold was placed on him by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency for deportation back to his country.
• DRUG SALES ALLEGED: CERES - A 40-year-old Modesto resident faces a variety of drug charges after he was stopped while driving in Ceres with drugs and evidence that he was selling methamphetamine.
The traffic stop was made at 2 a.m. on Wednesday, June 12 at Hatch and Moffet roads. Officer Brittney England stopped a green Chevy Malibu driven by Naresh Patel. During the stop the officer located 58 grams of meth, 0.6 grams of cocaine, drug packaging materials and scales hidden in a container. She also located $1,000 cash in $20 bills in the car.
Patel was arrested for possession of methamphetamine, possession of methamphetamine for sales and transportation of narcotics. Patel was recently released, under the early release prison, from state prison where he was sentenced for a prior drug sales conviction.
His passenger, Anthony Montgomery, 40 of Modesto, appeared to be under the influence of methamphetamine and admitted buying his supply from the Patel. Montgomery was arrested for possession of methamphetamine and being under the influence of a controlled substance.
• ANGRY MAN BREAKS BUSINESS WINDOW: CERES - Police arrested a man who broke a business window on Mitchell Road Thursday in an act of anger.
A witness told officers Coey Henson and Ross Bays that the glass window of Paleteria Nevera La Jungla at 2517 Mitchell Road was broken by rocks thrown by a young man. As the witness was being interviewed, the suspect, Armando Venture, 23, was seen walking across the street. Venture saw the officers and began shouting obscenities at them. When the officers confronted Venture he demanded that they kill him. The suspect was taken to the ground and handcuffed. He admitted breaking the window because he was angry. Venture, a transient, was booked on a charge of vandalism.
• MAN ARRESTED FOR HIT & RUN: CERES - A Friday car crash into the crosswalk barrier on the Pine Street / Highway 99 overpass resulted in the arrest of the driver who fled the scene.
Carlos Lopez, 25, a resident of Colony Park Estates Mobilehome Park, was also arrested for drunk driving, hit and run and driving without a license.
Police found the wrecked black 1999 Volkswagen Passat after the 4:10 a.m. call was made. The driver had fled the scene but the car was traced to a registered owner in the park. The owner said she allowed her boyfriend, Lopez, to drive the car. He was seen by police staggering into the entrance of the park. He not only was carrying the keys to the crashed car but he admitted to crashing it because he was "way too drunk."
• DRIVER HITS PARKED VAN: CERES - Allegedly intoxicated driver Joshua Menard, 26, of Ceres, was arrested early Sunday morning after he allegedly drove his car drunk down the street and crashed into a parked van in the 1900 block of Evans Road.
The crashed occurred at 12:48 a.m.
Officer Jon Vera won an admission from Menard that he was drunk behind the wheel of the 1996 Plymouth Neon. Menard was treated at the scene by paramedics from minor injuries before he was booked for DUI.
