Law & Order
MODESTO WOMAN ESCAPES CAR TRUNK: Detectives were looking for an unidentified man who assaulted a 33-year-old woman Tuesday morning as she was leaving her east Modesto home, a police spokesman said. Sgt. Craig Gundlach said the victim was not injured, and the suspect fled the scene after he forced her inside her trunk. About 5:30 a.m., the mother of two children left her home on East Orangeburg Avenue and got into her car. As the car pulled away, the man opened the driver's side door, Gundlach said. The suspect then forced the victim into the back seat. Gundlach said the woman believed she was going to be sexually assaulted, so she began to struggle. He said the suspect then forced her into the car's trunk through an access point in the back seat. "Apparently he changed his mind about assaulting her any further," Gundlach said. The victim waited a few minutes before forcing her way out of the trunk through the back seat. By then, the suspect had rummaged through the victim's purse and fled, but he did not take anything, Gundlach said. Police described the suspect as a white man wearing a hooded sweat shirt, dark glasses and athletic gloves similar to batting gloves. Modesto police asked anyone with information about this incident to call CrimeStoppers at 521-4636.
SEARCH CONTINUES FOR MISSING HIKER: More than 100 people continued to search Tuesday for a 24-year-old Honduran man who went missing Sunday afternoon in Yosemite National Park. Esmeen Garmendia-Barrios last was seen in the Washburn Point parking area, park spokeswoman Adrienne Freeman said. He speaks Spanish and limited English, and Freeman said he was wearing blue jeans, a blue T-shirt and black shoes, and was not carrying food or water. Freeman asked anyone who was in the Sentinel Dome, Washburn Point or Glacier Point areas, or on the Illilouette, Panorama, or Pohono trails after 2 p.m. Sunday to call 372-0311, even if they haven't seen Garmendia-Barrios.
DUI, POSSESSION CHARGES FOR HUGHSON RESIDENT: A Hughson woman faces charges of driving under the influence of a controlled substance after her arrest Sunday night, Sonora police said. About 10:15 p.m., a witness called 911 to report a Ford Focus swerving on Highway 108. Police said the witness followed the vehicle into the Wal-Mart parking lot in Sonora. The driver parked and went into the store. Officers responded and found the driver, Laura Bowlin, 52, who works at the store. Police said she failed a field sobriety test and had methamphetamine in her possession. She was booked at Tuolumne County Jail on a felony charge of possessing a controlled substance and misdemeanor driving under the influence of a controlled substance.
TWO HELD IN BURGLARIES: Officers Tuesday arrested two men suspected of burglarizing two south Modesto homes within four blocks of one another and stealing two vehicles, a Modesto police spokesman said. Armando Reyes, 19, and Nicholas Charron, 18, both of Modesto, were arrested on suspicion of burglary and auto theft, police Sgt. Craig Gundlach said. The incident began shortly before 11 a.m., when neighbors reported a burglary in progress at a house in the 1700 block of Boise Avenue. The neighbors told police that two suspects in a green Chevrolet pickup had jumped the fence into the back yard of a house. An officer arrived at the house and saw one suspect put a laptop computer in the truck and drive away. Gundlach said officers stopped the vehicle on Dallas Street at Hatch Road and detained the driver, later identified as Reyes. Police found several items in the back of the truck, including electronics and clothing, which officers later learned were stolen from a home in the 1200 block of Cape Cod Drive. Gundlach said a Toyota was stolen from the house on Boise, but officers later found the vehicle abandoned nearby. Police say they believe Charron stole the Toyota and later abandoned it. Reyes was driving a pickup owned by Charron, who approached officers to report that his pickup had been stolen earlier. Charron was detained and later arrested. Police went to Reyes' west Modesto home and found a .22-caliber revolver with the serial number removed and a stolen Ford Mustang in the back yard. Modesto police asked anyone with information about these crimes to call CrimeStoppers at 521-4636.
This story was originally published June 11, 2008 at 4:41 AM with the headline "Law & Order."