A 23-year-old Modesto felon faces a number of serious charges after he led Ceres police on a pursuit while intoxicated early Tuesday, June 30 and struck a parked vehicle.

Convicted for robbery in 2013, Rene Gregory Moya of Modesto was in possession of a loaded handgun in the car. He was booked into the Public Safety Center for DUI, felony evading police, being a felon in possession of a firearm, and possession of a loaded firearm in a vehicle.

Moya’s arrest came after Sgt. Vince Hooper observed him at 12:22 a.m. speeding in a gray-colored VW, which did not have operable tail-lights, in the area of Moffett Road and Whitmore Avenue. Sgt. Hooper was in pursuit as Moya drove westbound on Whitmore Avenue splitting lanes and made a wide northbound turn into the southbound lane. The suspect then blew through a red light at Herndon Road.

Sgt. Hooper attempted to stop Moya near Central Avenue and Sequoia Street but he ran the stop sign while turning westbound, speeding at about 50 mph in the residential neighborhood. Moya turned northbound on Lois Way where he ran another stop sign onto westbound on Darrah Street. The vehicle slowed and turned northbound into a parking stall in front of 1945 Darrah Street. The right side of the Volkswagen collided with a parked vehicle and stopped. Sgt. Hooper held Moya at gunpoint until additional officers arrived.

 Moya was called out of the vehicle and handcuffed. He appeared heavily intoxicated and was uncooperative with police, refusing to answer questions and using profane and abusive language. Moya refused to perform field sobriety test and refused to submit to an evidentiary blood or a breath test. Moya’s driver’s license status showed he was on court DUI probation through July 18, 2021with terms of the probation to not refuse a blood alcohol content test. When this was explained, Moya agreed to a breath test which showed he was three times over the legal limit.