Hook, Line and Sinker

THE VICTIM: Lenora Mendoza, Ceres

THE VEHICLE: 1989 Honda Accord, stolen three times from 2002 to 2005

THE STORY: "They stole it from the driveway in Hughson and were stopped in a high-speed chase. In July of this year, they stripped everything out of it and then three weeks later they stole the whole car. I hope they catch these idiots. You think you locked your car and it's safe, and everything is gone. I lived in San Jose before and it's sad that all this happened here. When they stole the car the second time, I thought it was a dream."

THE COST: A total loss, twice. "There's time, work and sentimental value of the pictures and mementos. I didn't have full coverage; I'm a single parent. This is all coming out of my pocket."

THE QUOTE: "If you have a Honda, you're always in fear."

Thief takes it all: Child seat, stroller, identity

THE VICTIM: Angelica Cervantes, Hughson

THE VEHICLE: 1989 Toyota Camry, stolen in November 2004

THE STORY: "It was stolen from work, when I parked across the street. There was no room in the employee lot. A camera caught two people getting in the car. It took just 30 seconds.

"They stripped it and it was a total loss. I only had liability insurance. The towing companies were going to charge to tow the hulk, but I found one that would do it for free.

"The post office sent me a notice and wanted to know if I had lent my license to a person in Delhi. Those people got convicted of identity theft. I don't know how long their sentences were."

THE DAMAGE: "I also lost my car seat and stroller. I was out about $4,500 and had to buy another vehicle."

THE QUOTE: "I'm a single mother of three and still trying to catch up on my bills."

— COMPILED BY BEE STAFF WRITER ROGER HOSKINS

Thousands of cars stolen every year. Thieves arrested, only to be released early from overcrowded jails. An understaffed and overwhelmed police force, and a general decay of public safety and morale.

Sound like Modesto? Law enforcement officials in Stanislaus County think so, and Dyer agrees.

"There are many similarities," he said. "In the mid-'90s, we had a police department that had not matched over 15 years of city growth. We didn't have the resources to be an effective agency."

The result, Dyer said, was an understaffed department that left dozens -- sometimes hundreds -- of calls for help unanswered every day for lack of available officers.

Another result: an exploding car theft rate. In 1994, there were 13,580 cars stolen within the city limit, an all-time high.

Car theft is still a problem -- the Fresno area ranked ninth in the country last year in per cap-ita auto theft. But as rates soar in the rest of the valley, the numbers in Fresno have dropped significantly, to 5,245 thefts last year.

Dyer said he is hopeful the Fresno area will drop out of the nation's "Top 10 Auto Theft Hot Spots" list for the first time since 1997, the year the National Insurance Crime Bureau began compiling the list.

How did Fresno do it? According to Dyer, this is how:

"We were finding that we were arresting the same individuals repeatedly," he said. But because the jail was overcrowded, convicted thieves were released early. An addition to the county jail in 2002 fixed that problem, Dyer said.

In Stanislaus County, bail is $10,000, and thieves have to pay as little as $300 to be freed. Bail bond agencies cover the rest.

"People don't feel they can drive on our roadways with impunity (now)," Dyer said. "We took away that level of anonym-ity, because of the likelihood they'll get stopped."

Several years ago, cars were commonly stolen from people who left the keys in the ignition, Dyer said. Then officers started an education campaign advising people to stop the practice. They apparently listened.

"We see very few now," Dyer said. "Once people knew not to do it, they stopped."

Dyer said the changes have freed Fresno County's auto theft task force -- dubbed HEAT, for Help Eliminate Auto Theft -- to focus their efforts on conducting surveillance of theft hot spots and investigating rumors culled from informants.

HEAT is Fresno's equivalent to StanCATT, the Stanislaus County Auto Theft Task Force.

The two groups do essentially the same thing: hunt car thieves. But when HEAT investigators make arrests, the suspects stay in jail, Sgt. Ronald Minor said.

That's not always the case in Stanislaus County, where overcrowding often forces jailers to release nonviolent offenders early, officials said.

"We arrest these people and keep them incarcerated," Minor said. "We put people in prison. We get them off the street."

It seems, Minor said, that the only difference between Modesto and Fresno is that in Fresno, all parts of the system are working.

"It's not just a case of Fresno HEAT doing their job," he said. "The sheriff is doing his job, and the DA's office does us very good."

Dyer agreed. "The entire criminal justice system must work together," he said. "If one component is broken, the whole system fails."

In Stanislaus County, meanwhile, officials are taking note of Fresno's success.

"We are trying to benchmark other people who are successful, and that means we're looking at Fresno," Assistant Sheriff Mark Puthuff said. "It's not so much a question of tactics or strategies, they're just allocated more resources. We have to be more aggressive in finding resources."

Bee staff writer Chris Togneri can be reached at 578-2324 or ctogneri@modbee.com.

Fine people $50 for leaving keys in their cars.

The proposal made sense, Halford reasoned before the City Council at a December meeting, because an estimated 20 percent of all car thefts in the city were the result of keys being left in a vehicle.

But the council rejected the idea, with Councilman Steve DeBrum saying it was not the city's job to "regulate stupidity."

Nearly a year later, Halford said he still wants the ordinance, but has no plans of reintroducing it.

"I'd still like to see it done," he said. "But I'm not going to bring it forward absent the belief the council would see it differently."

Halford put a positive spin on the council's decision, noting that car theft is down 15 percent in Manteca this year. One reason, he said, could be the public-ity his proposal generated last year.

"Maybe it had some effect in terms of shedding some light on the problem," he said.

Halford warned, however, that he expects more cars to be stolen once winter sets in.

"When the weather gets cold, people like to start their cars and let them warm up," he said. "Unfortunately, crooks know this."

Bee staff writer Chris Togneri can be reached at 578-2324 or ctogneri@modbee.com.

They arrested the driver, 22-year-old Jonathon Ray Hernandez of Modesto, on suspicion of auto theft and booked him into jail.

It wasn't Hernandez's first arrest. Court papers tell the story of a spree that started in January and lasted until mid-April.

Hernandez was in and out of jail during that time. He would eventually plead no contest to charges of stealing 12 cars in less than four months — many while he was out on bail.

In Stanislaus County, which has the highest per capita car theft rate in the country, Hernandez is not unique.

One way to bring the car theft rate down, local authorities say, is to make it harder for people accused of car theft to go free on bail while awaiting trial. In some instances, those arrested can arrange credit for a bail bond and get out for nothing down or as little as $300.

This week, Assistant District Attorney Carol Shipley sent a memo asking local judges to quadruple the county's standard bail in auto theft cases — from $10,000 to $40,000.

Shipley also asked the 12 judges who handle criminal cases in Stanislaus County to consider a new rule adding $20,000 to the bail if a person is already out on bail, probation or parole at the time he or she is arrested.

Repeat offenders made up a significant percentage of people arrested on suspicion of car theft, Shipley's memo says. Of 234 people arrested in a 12-month period, 48 were on probation or parole after another offense. That's about 20 percent.

Shipley argued that California counties with higher bail rates than Stanislaus have lower theft rates: Fresno County sets bail at $15,000 and San Joaquin at $20,000.

Don Lundy, administrator for Stanislaus County Superior Court, said the judicial team, headed by Judge Hurl Johnson, will review the request, then make a recommendation to the county court's seven-member executive committee. The higher-level committee is expected to review the request within two weeks.

But Lundy noted that the law already provides a way officers can request higher bail for repeat car thieves, or any other repeat offenders. "That's available for them, if they want to use it." The county's bail schedule also allows $25,000 to be added at booking, without going to a judge, if authorities know that the person was out on bail.

Tim Bazar, the county's public defender, said he doubts the county's high rate of car theft is connected to the relatively affordable $10,000 bail.

He noted some counties with lower theft rates share Stanislaus' $10,000 standard bail amount. In Riverside County, bail is $5,000, but theft rates are 44 percent lower than in Stanislaus County.

"So it seems to me that the amount of bail does not seem to be related to whether they have a big problem with auto theft in the community," Bazar said.

Bazar said prosecutors and police already can ask for higher bail in the case of repeat offenders.

Sgt. Carlos Castro, of the Stanislaus County Auto Theft Task Force, said it's true that police can request higher bail in specific cases. But "we don't want to inundate the court with bail enhancements," he said.

"We're selective on who we pick those for. We don't want to use it on a guy who's got maybe two arrests," he said. "We use it on the guys that steal 10 or 15 cars, that are a real thorn in our side."

Castro argued raising the bail amounts would keep more defendants in jail, while awaiting trial: "What it does is to make it a little more difficult for the average Joe to be able to bail out."

Bail bonding organization officials say they share his concern for public safety, but say raising bail too high could put it out of reach of the poor. That is important because bail allows a person who has not been tried or found guilty to keep a job and continue supporting his or her family.

Experts say part of the reason bail increases are even being discussed across California is a trend in the bail industry toward offering credit.

Traditionally, an arrested person pays the bail bond fee — usually 10 percent — up front. But now, some bondsmen offer credit, with a low 3 percent down payment, or none.

"They can get out on $0 to $300 down, if they have good credit," said Sgt. Rick Gilstrap of the Stanislaus County Auto Theft Task Force.

One Modesto bail bondsman, who offers payment plans, said the market is driving the trend.

"Just like credit card companies these days, it's gotten more and more competitive, with more people coming into the business," said Vernon Sutherland, who has 15 years' experience in Modesto.

Some bail agents' professional groups deplore the trend toward offering credit.

"It reflects badly on the bail industry," said Stephen Krimel, a Santa Rosa attorney who is spokesman for Professional Bail Agents of the United States.

Krimel said he believes that when agents discount bail too much, they can't make enough money to take care of a bondsman's core responsibility — getting the defendant to court.

The California Bail Agents Association has backed legislation that would restrict bail agents' ability to offer credit.

But Krimel said decision makers need to consider issues of equal access to justice.

"If you take the credit element out, you have a gross potential for causing more problems for the lower income and indigent," he said. "There are a lot of families that can't come up with 10percent of $10,000 or of $20,000."

Maggie Kreins, president-elect of the California Bail Agents Association, said it would be counterproductive to raise bail so high that it becomes inaccessible to those who are not rich.

"If you raise it too high, they'll just sit in the jail," she said. "Then the jails become overcrowded."

That can result in jail authorities releasing people who should be incarcerated, she said.

Bee staff writer Blair Craddock can be reached at 578-2394 or bcraddock@modbee.com.