A 15-year-old Ceres boy was arrested Saturday, March 15, after he allegedly tried to steal bottles of liquor from Stop N Shop, 1587 E. Whitmore Ave., and struck a clerk in the head during a scuffle in an attempt to stop the theft.
At 7:48 a.m. the teen was observed by clerk Raginder Singh walk into the store and grab bottles from the shelf. Singh suspected that a theft was about to take place and shoved a magazine rack in front of the door to keep the teen from leaving and tried to stop the suspect. The teen struck the clerk in the head with bottle, shattering it and cutting his head. The fight spilled out onto the sidewalk where the clerk was assisted by bystanders who helped detain him until police arrived.
The suspect refused to give police his name. When his mother contacted police that's how they learned his name. Police were unable to release his name to the media because of a law that protects the identity of minors who have been arrested. He was booked for robbery because force was used in the attempted theft.
Ceres police reported these other crimes:
• TRESPASSER ARRESTED - The man who was reported digging in the flower beds in search of a blanket outside the My Garden Café on Whitmore Avenue may have been under the influence on Sunday.
Police were called to the closed restaurant at 12:10 a.m. about the suspicious man. Officers found that Jonathan Hadley, 23, of Modesto, was searchable for drugs. He was determined to be under the influence of methamphetamine and transported to the county jail.
• AUTO BURGLARIES OCCUR OUTSIDE BAR - Several female patrons of Sweet Lu's Fourth Street Lounge in downtown Ceres reported that their purses were stolen after their cars were broken into early Sunday morning.
Sgt. John King was flagged down by the victims at 1:27 a.m. in front of the bar. Officer Brittany England located several ransacked purses and wallets in the alley behind the bar. Apparently the break-ins have been occurring for a couple of weeks but a security guard said victims are less likely to contact police because of their inebriation.
"So we will be doing extra patrols there in the coming weeks," said Ceres Police Lt. Brent Smith.
• DUI SUSPECT HANGS UP CAR ON ROCK: CERES - Irene Rodriguez, 65, of Ceres, was arrested on Thursday evening, March 13, after she hung up her 1995 Toyota Camry on a landscaping rock in front of McDonald's at Hatch and Mitchell roads.
Police do not known what direction Rodriguez was travelling at 9:18 p.m. She left the road during an unsafe turning movement and ran into the grassy landscaping strip where she high-centered the car on the rock. Police said she seemed extremely intoxicated and because she refused to take a field sobriety test was taken by AMR ambulance to Doctors Medical Center where she was arrested for DUI.
She was not injured.
• RESIDENTIAL BURGLARIES REPORTED - Police are investigating two residential burglaries that occurred on the same day.
Homeowners of a house in the 2100 block of Rose Court are determining what may have been taken in a break-in that was reported at 2:07 p.m. on Saturday, March 15.
At 5:15 p.m. residents in the 2600 block of Rivercreek Drive reported that the side garage door had been kicked in and that items taken from the house included jewelry.
• SOLO CRASH INTO SCHOOL FENCE - A preliminary report indicated that the fence around Caswell Elementary School was damaged Monday evening during a solo car crash at 725 p.m.
• REPORT OF FIGHT LEADS TO ARREST - Police were called to a residential area on Caulfield Drive in southwest Ceres yesterday morning for reports of a fight in which beer bottles were being lobbed.
After calling 9-1-1 at 2:13 a.m., the reporting party noted that the subjects retreated into a residence. Police knocked on the door of the home but nobody answered. Officer Josh Klinge circled the area and watched Brenda Sanchez, 23, of Ceres, leave the house in a car and failed to stop at two stop signs. She was pulled over and determined to be under the influence. Sanchez was arrested after blowing into the Breathalyzer and registering a blood alcohol content of 0.11.
A passenger in her car had a head injury but nothing became of an assault case.
