Landlord wants $325 after Modesto officer damaged ceiling in search

MODESTO -- A homeowner wants Modesto to pay him $325 for the large hole a police officer made in the kitchen ceiling as he searched the attic after police had taken a murder suspect into custody.

Loren Pohl filed a claim against the city last week for the cost of hiring a drywall contractor to repair the ceiling.

Pohl said the home is a rental property and he did not have any details about the incident. The renters and Modesto officials also declined to comment.

But the claim and court records show that the incident is related to the Oct. 11 arrest of Mario Jesus Hernandez at a home in the 2400 block of Encina Avenue in east Modesto. Hernandez, 24, was wanted in a 2011 slaying in San Jose.

A tipster called Modesto police after Hernandez was featured on the TV show "America's Most Wanted." Police searched the home after taking Hernandez into custody.

The claim states that an officer searching the attic created a "large hole" after the officer "broke through the kitchen ceiling."

Modesto police also arrested 18-year-old Kathryn Tisdale, who was living at the Encina Avenue home. Police said Tisdale told them she did not know Hernandez and denied that he was in the home.

But police said they learned Tisdale was Hernandez's girlfriend and she knew he was a suspect in the slaying. She has been charged with felony accessory and has posted bail.

Hernandez is in the Santa Clara County Jail.

Bee staff writer Kevin Valine can be reached at kvaline@modbee.com or (209) 578-2316.