Oakdale, Ceres residents arrested after hit and run near Chicken Ranch casino
Two Stanislaus County residents were arrested after a hit and run crash in which one vehicle rolled on top of the other, near the Chicken Ranch Casino in Tuolumne County on Monday.
Just before 4 p.m., Albert Roman III, 20, of Oakdale, was driving his 2005 Mercedes sedan just north of the Casino with passengers, 19-year-old Nathaniel Stetson, of Ceres, and a 16-year-old girl from Oakdale, according to the California Highway Patrol.
Roman was driving north on Chicken Ranch Road approaching a 2001 Mercedes at high speed when his vehicle left the right side of the road, according to CHP Officer Steve Machado.
The 2005 Mercedes traveled up an embankment and overturned onto the passenger side of the 2001 Mercedes.
The passenger in the 2001 Mercedes, 69-year-old Richard Alvarez of Modesto, suffered minor injuries. No one else was injured in the crash, Machado said.
The driver and two passengers in the 2005 Mercedes all ran from the scene.
CHP officers searched the area and found Roman on a nearby property and Stetson and the 16-year-old near the crash scene.
Roman was arrested on suspicion of felony hit and run and Stetson was arrested on suspicion of delaying the duties of a peace officer, Machado said.
Upon being booked into the Tuolumne County Jail, Stetson was found to be concealing a clear baggy containing a white crystal substance, suspected to be methamphetamine, in one of his shoes, according to Machado. Stetson faces an additional felony charges of bringing a controlled substance into a jail.
Authorities do not believe alcohol or drugs were a factor in this crash.
This story was originally published March 23, 2021 at 5:06 PM.
