He went panning for gold in mid-November. Now his disappearance is being investigated

The Stanislaus County Sheriff's Department is looking for information on a missing man, James Andrada. He's a resident of the Redding area, but his Facebook page says he's from Modesto and went to Ceres High School.

Andrada, who also goes by Jim or Jimmy, went to the Grass Valley area with a friend on Nov. 14, the Sheriff's Department reports. He last made contact with his ex-wife on Nov. 18.

The friend returned from Grass Valley and said Andrada chose to stay there.

Andrada's mother, Ceres resident Donna Lyon, posted on Facebook Dec. 10 an entry that included, "I don't believe any of this." She told The Bee that her son's friend has given different accounts of where he last saw Andrada. She said her son and his friend went to the area to pan for gold.

"I've heard nothing, there's no activity on his phone, on the Facebook, nothing, it's like he just dropped off the face of the Earth," she said on Facebook.

Lyon said her son visits the Modesto area frequently to see friends and family.

Modesto police reported in March that Andrada — identified then as a resident of Shasta Lake, north of Redding — was arrested and booked into the Stanislaus County Jail on suspicion of receiving stolen property and possession of methamphetamine, as well as probation violation and warrants.

Andrada is described as a white male adult, age 40, 6-foot-1, 170 pounds, with brown hair and brown/hazel eyes.

Anyone with information on his whereabouts is asked to contact Stanislaus Area Crime Stoppers, 209-521-4636. Tipsters can email through the Crime Stoppers website, www.stancrimetips.org.

This story was originally published December 14, 2017 at 7:33 AM with the headline "He went panning for gold in mid-November. Now his disappearance is being investigated."