Modestan gets prison for forgery

MODESTO -- A 36-year-old man has been convicted and sentenced to seven years in prison for using a phony identity and forged checks to buy two vehicles on the same day.

The first purchase was made at a Manteca dealership and the second at a McHenry Avenue dealership in Modesto.

Heath Lee Roberson of Modesto on June 20 was convicted of two counts of vehicle theft, evading a police officer and resisting arrest, according to the Stanislaus County district attorney's office.

On May 25, Roberson went to a Manteca dealership and used the fake ID and a forged check to fraudulently buy a 2010 gray Dodge Ram 1500 pickup, prosecutors said. Within hours after Roberson left, the dealership discovered he provided forged documents and called police.

Later that day, Roberson went to a McHenry Avenue dealership and used the same scheme to buy a 2006 black Range Rover. That dealership also discovered Roberson used forged documents after he left and called police.

About 1 p.m. May 31, a Stanislaus County Auto Theft Task Force officer spotted Roberson driving the stolen Dodge Ram pickup near Keller Street in north Modesto.

The officer tried to pull over the pickup, but Roberson sped away at more than 85 mph in a 35-mph zone, ignoring several stop signs and red traffic lights, prosecutors said.

The pickup hit a parked car near College Avenue. Roberson ran from the pickup, jumped over a fence, and fled down an alley before police caught him.

Roberson has served prison sentences for convictions of grand theft in 1996 and 1999, possession of forged checks in 2003 and commercial burglary in 2004 and 2008.

The Stanislaus County district attorney's office also announced Thursday another conviction:

• Bobby Charles Bolin, 28, of Modesto on June 17 was convicted of vehicle theft and sentenced to three years in prison. Bolin had a vehicle theft conviction in January 2006 and was on parole. About 11 p.m. June 9, Bolin was arrested after a police officer spotted him driving a stolen 1990 brown Honda Accord near Orangeburg Avenue and Carver Road in central Modesto, prosecutors said. The car had been stolen from a home on Poppypatch Drive in Modesto.