Monday, Aug. 18, 2008

6 arrested after home invasion attempt

Victim, ex-husband, neighbors credited with helping police

A victim of an attempted home invasion robbery, her ex-husband and neighbors helped police arrest four people Saturday in north Modesto, police said.

The officers also arrested two people suspected of intimidating the victim and her ex-husband after the crime took place, Modesto police Sgt. Craig Gundlach said.

The 27-year-old woman was home with her 3-year-old son when she heard a knock at her front door about 11 a.m. in the 3900 block of Prescott Road, just south of Snyder Avenue and north of Standiford Avenue.

Gundlach said the woman looked through the peephole and saw a man she believed looked suspicious, so she didn't open the door. The man then tried to open the door with an object, and the woman saw a second man standing by a side window before she called 911.

The woman's ex-husband arrived and saw the two men at the door with a third man walking to a stolen Toyota 4-Runner with a woman in the driver's seat, Gundlach said. When an officer arrived, the men ran.

Gundlach said the officer caught one man, Roderick Gonzales, 21, of Modesto, after the victim's ex-husband blocked Gonzales on the sidewalk.

He said the other men who ran from police, Darren Waid, 19, and Bomy Ke, 28, both of Modesto, began jumping fences into back yards.

Several people called 911, directing officers to Waid and Ke. Gundlach said officers found them in the 2100 block of Cheyenne Way, Waid hiding in a back yard and Ke hiding in a garage.

Police found the Toyota driver, Yolonda Hernandez, 24, of Modesto, talking to a resident on the front porch of a house on Snyder near Prescott.

Gonzales, Waid, Ke and Hernandez were arrested on suspicion of attempted home invasion robbery and conspiracy, Gundlach said.

"We may not have caught all the suspects without the help of the citizens in the neighborhood," Officer Ben Kroutil said. "They all started calling 911 and coming out of their homes to point us in the direction of the suspects.

As the victim and her ex-husband walked out of the home on their way to the police station, a man confronted them. Gundlach said the man was upset because they helped police capture the suspects.

He said the victim and the ex-husband got in a vehicle and left, but the disgruntled man and a woman followed in a white Ford Explorer.

After the victim and her ex-husband notified police, officers pulled over the Explorer and arrested the driver, Monica Gonzales, 27, and the passenger, Randy Heldstab, 25, both of Modesto, on suspicion of intimidating a witness and a victim, Gundlach said.

Monica Gonzales is the sister of Roderick Gonzales. Gundlach said there were no apparent links between the suspects and the victim.

Modesto police asked anyone with information about this incident to call Crime Stoppers at 521-4636.

Bee staff writer Rosalio Ahumada can be reached at rahumada@modbee.com or 578-2394.