Cameras help nab auto theft suspect

RIPON — Police arrested a Modesto man on suspicion of vehicle theft early Thursday after surveillance cameras photographed a license plate that matched a car stolen from Turlock, a department spokesman said.

Ripon police Lt. Ed Ormonde said an officer found Keith Burdick, 23, driving a rented 2009 Chevrolet Aveo. He said Burdick had borrowed the car from the person who rented it but never had returned the vehicle.

The two cameras, used to photograph license plates, were installed in January near the Jack Tone Road overpass in Ripon. Ripon police have received more than 90 alerts from the cameras, and most of them were from lost or stolen license plates.

Ormonde said this was the first time the cameras were used to recover a stolen vehicle.

Photographs of passing vehicles are immediately submitted to a statewide database, which compares the license plate numbers with those of reported stolen vehicles. Ormonde said it's all done with computers, and dispatchers are alerted only when a match is found.

About 2:30 a.m., the cameras alerted police dispatchers that a photograph had matched a stolen car. Officers were sent to the area and given the license plate number and a description of the vehicle.

Officer Matt Ford spotted the stolen Chevrolet near South Jack Tone Road and Stanley Drive, made a traffic stop and took Burdick into custody without incident.

Burdick was arrested on suspicion of vehicle theft, possession of stolen property, driving with a suspended license and violating parole.

Paid for by commercial developer

Ormonde said the cameras and their installation cost about $25,000, which was paid for by a commercial developer building retail space at the nearby Ripon Crossing shopping plaza. It was part of an agreement with the city.

He said the department will look for funding to buy more cameras and is hoping the city can make similar agreements with other commercial developers.

Along with finding stolen vehicles, the cameras can be used in conjunction with statewide Amber Alerts or other reports of abducted or missing persons.

"We can also specifically use the camera system for a vehicle used in a crime in Ripon," Ormonde said. "We can kind of tailor it for what we're looking for."

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