At about 1:41am Saturday, Turlock Police Officer Lupe made a traffic stop at Sinclair Gas & Dino Mart in the 1400 block of N. Golden State Boulevard.
The vehicle Lupe had stopped was impeding the flow of traffic as it was disabled and being pushed down the roadway. Lupe is also an expert on stolen vehicles, knows there has been an increase of thefts with these types of vehicles, and thought the situation seemed suspicious.
The vehicle’s three occupants were all contacted. They were identified as Felipe Rodriguez, 21, of Turlock, Damian Ceballos, 22, of Turlock, and Oscar Cruz, 43, of Turlock.
When Lupe had his dispatcher run the three, he discovered Cruz had a $1,500 misdemeanor bench warrant out of Stanislaus County for driving with a suspended license due to a DUI conviction.
Cruz was arrested and a search incident to arrest led to the discovery of methamphetamines.
During a subsequent search of the vehicle, drug paraphernalia was located.
Lupe then began investigating the vehicle and noticed its vehicle identification number (VIN) had been tampered with. A different VIN was being displayed, which matched that of the license plate which was being displayed.
As Lupe continued to search the vehicle for other VIN locations, he located its true one. When he ran it, the vehicle was discovered to have been reported stolen out of Dallas, Texas in August 2022.
Everyone was detained and placed in the back of a patrol vehicle for the investigation.
The license plate that was being displayed was taken off the vehicle and booked into evidence.
Cruz was arrested and booked into the Stanislaus County Public Safety Center on charges of receiving a stolen vehicle, possession of methamphetamines, and his warrant.
Rodriguez and Ceballos were released from detention.
Other officers stood by with the vehicle until a tow truck arrived to pick it up. Using a special tool, the tow truck driver was able to pull the vehicle’s fake VIN sticker out of its dash. That was also taken and booked into evidence.
After reviewing records, Turlock City News discovered the same vehicle had been stopped by a different officer in May 2022 after doing a burnout in front of him. Rodriguez was the driver and was arrested that night, while Ceballos and another man were his passengers.
The VIN swap hadn’t been discovered by that officer at the time, so the vehicle had been impounded and then later released back to the same people.
Just four days before this stop, Lupe had been awarded his first 10851 pin by the California Highway Patrol, and eight days before the stop recovered another VIN-swapped stolen vehicle.
The statewide award program, the 10851 Award, is co-sponsored by the American Automobile Association (AAA) and named after the California Vehicle Code section for auto theft, 10851.
The award is given to uniformed California peace officers who, during a 12-month period, make six separate stolen vehicle recoveries cleared by arrests, or recover 12 stolen vehicles, of which at least three must be cleared by arrests.
“This program supports law enforcement agencies in their ongoing efforts of reducing vehicle theft throughout the state,” said former CHP Commissioner Joe Farrow. “Of the 171,036 vehicles stolen in California in 2013, 89 percent were successfully recovered for an estimated value of more than $1 billion. The determination and commitment of the CHP and its allied agencies is part of the reason for the high recovery rate.”
An officer may be recognized up to 25 times, at which point they receive a gold lifetime achievement pin.
“We are proud to be involved in this program because it recognizes the hard work done by law enforcement throughout California,” said David White of AAA. “Recovering stolen vehicles, and catching those responsible, helps to keep our communities safer.”
Great work, Officer Lupe!
