Crime & Safety

Auto Theft, Burglary Suspects Chased From Walnut Creek; Caught In Lafayette

An effort to make off with a homeowner's car in Walnut Creek ended badly for five East Bay residents Friday.

Walnut Creek police report that five people suspected of attempting to steal cars in their city were chased off by an alert homeowner and eventually captured when the car they were in was stopped at Highway 24 near Pleasant Hill Road in Lafayette Friday morning.

Police said the five were in the 1500 block of Sunnyvale Ave. in Walnut Creek at 5 a.m. Friday when a resident heard his car start and looked outside to see a man later identified as Mario Alberto Pena, 27, of Concord, making off with the resident's car.

Officers said the homeowner ran outside and saw two more men, later identified as Heriberto Hernandez, 18, of Concord and Isaac Melgoza Gomez, a 39-year-old transient, fleeing from his neighbor's driveway -- dropping a backpack they had allegedly just stolen from the neighbor's car.

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The homeowner immediately notified police, who responded to find Hernandez attempting to hide and Gomez' vehicle parked nearby. Hernandez was detained and Gomez' car impounded.

Roughly two hours later, at approximately 7 a.m., a Walnut Creek police officer spotted Gomez and several other people in a different car as it got onto Interstate 680. The officer followed the car while waiting for other officers to get into position and then performed a "high risk" stop in Highway 24 near Pleasant Hill Road at the height of the morning commute. Gomez, Pena, Juan Franco Perez, 35, of Concord, and an unidentified 17-year-old female juvenile were all taken into custody, according to police.

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Pena was booked into the Martinez Detention Facility on charges of auto theft, burglary, possession of stolen property, and conspiracy. A parole hold was also put in place.

Hernandez was similarly booked, without the parole hold as were Gomez and Perez. The 17-year-old female juvenile faces charges of possession of stolen property and possession of narcotics paraphernalia. She was released to the custody of her parents.

The victim's car was recovered, unoccupied, in Concord at around 11 a.m., according to police.


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