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Police deal with a rash of stolen car reports
1997-honda-civic-3
Hondas have been a target of thieves in the Ceres area. This is a 1997 Honda Civic. Police report that theft is lower among the newer cars with so called smart keys. - photo by Contributed to the Courier

A rash of car thefts was reported in Ceres over a three-day stretch with some having been recovered quickly.

Ceres police have also reported finding cars not stolen in Ceres.

On Friday morning at 6:21 a.m., an employee of Irish Construction at 2028 Marchi Lane showed up for work and found the perimeter fence down and two work trucks stolen. Police recovered them a little while later in a nearby orchard. There are no leads on suspects.

On Saturday morning the owner of a 1990 Chevy Silverado pickup at 920 Lawrence Street was awakened at 6:18 a.m. to the sound of the truck being stolen. The owner chased the suspect in his pickup on foot. The suspect accelerated backwards east on Lawrence Street where it backed into a stop sign in the parking lot of Walter White Elementary School and hit a tree. The suspect fled on foot northbound into the school grounds and, after an extensive search, got away.

At 7:13 a.m., a white Honda Accord was reported stolen from 624 Hackett Road. It turned up later set ablaze in an orchard south of the Ceres wastewater treatment plant.

Then at 8:43 a.m. on Saturday, a green Honda Accord was reported stolen from 751 Margaret Way. It has not been recovered.

A stolen black Honda Civic was recovered by Ceres Police at 3:17 a.m. Sunday morning in the 3800 block Podocarpus Drive.

Police were taking another report of a stolen car, this one at 7:15 a.m. Sunday at the Walmart parking lot. The car stolen was a black 1997 Honda Civic.

A yellow 1998 Honda Civic was reported missing from the Home Depot parking lot on Hatch Road at 10:19 p.m. The car, which had been stolen between 8 a.m. and 10 a.m., was located by police in the Starbucks parking lot at Hatch and Herndon with its stereo missing.

At 1:54 p.m. Sunday, police were called to the El Rematito Flea Market, 3113 Crows Landing Road, to take a report of a person whose 2011 tan Chevy Tahoe was stolen. Police believe that the victim dropped her keys at the flea market and that someone picked him up and used them to steal the SUV in the parking lot.