Ankle bracelet monitor helped Fresno police find gun theft suspects in Modesto
Fresno police have released names and mug shots of four Stanislaus County residents arrested in west Modesto on Thursday in connection with weapons theft from a Fresno gun shop last month.
The other Stanislaus County residents remain at large, police reported.
.Arrested were Johnny Sanchez, 21, Nathan Creel, 21, James Britt, 23, and Luis Galvan, 40. Still sought are Dolores Garza, 52. and David Avina, 51.
Fifty guns — 25 handguns and 25 rifles, mostly semiautomatics — were taken in a burglary the night of Oct. 20 from PRK Firearms in Fresno. Only one rifle and two handguns were recovered Thursday when police and federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms officers served four search warrants in the areas of South Martin Luther King Drive, Seattle Street and Imperial Avenue.
The investigation of the PRK burglary was hampered because the store's video cameras were not working, The Fresno Bee reported. Police used footage from a neighboring business.
About a week after the crime, a tip from Modesto police moved the investigation to Stanislaus County.
Ankle monitor data from Sanchez, who was on probation, helped solve the case, Fresno police Chief Jerry Dyer said at a news conference in Fresno on Thursday afternoon.
Stanislaus probation officers tracked the data to determine where Sanchez had been, Dyer said at the news conference. "We were able to determine that Johnny Sanchez had in fact been at PRK Firearms at the time of the burglary," The Fresno Bee quoted Dyer as saying.
Sanchez also visited an Arco station the same day in Turlock, so police got surveillance footage from the station. "The video allowed our detectives to be able to identify other suspects that were in the vehicle," Dyer said.
In the 6 a.m. Thursday, a swarm of Fresno, Clovis and ATF officers had South Martin Luther King Drive blocked off south of California Avenue. Shortly after 8 a.m., most of those units moved on to serve another warrant.
Modesto Bee archives show that Britt and Sanchez are brothers. Britt and Galvan both have had car-theft arrests.
The Fresno Bee reported that Avina and Garza, the two at large, are engaged or married.
According to Stanislaus County Superior Court records, Creel has been convicted of charges including burglary and grand theft this year and last.
This story was originally published November 3, 2017 at 11:00 AM with the headline "Ankle bracelet monitor helped Fresno police find gun theft suspects in Modesto."