LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Four local teenagers were arrested after they stole a pickup in the south county and later stole a second vehicle in Fairfield, leading police on a foot chase afterward.
Police officers arrested the four male juveniles – ranging in age from 13 to 16 – late last month after they burglarized an auto dealership and stole a vehicle, according to Lt. Greg Hurlbut of the Fairfield Police Department.
The suspects – whose names were not released because of their age – were identified as two juveniles from Hidden Valley Lake and two juveniles from Middletown, police said.
The vehicle stolen in Fairfield actually was the second taken by the boys, who also allegedly were in possession of three handguns, police reported.
According to a Fairfield Police report on the case, at 4 a.m. July 23 officers responded to a report of a suspicious vehicle and persons on foot near the rear of car dealerships in the 2500 block of Auto Mall Parkway.
Privately monitored video surveillance could see four males walking around the rear area of the dealerships, and police said two vehicles were associated with the males.
As officers arrived and began establishing a perimeter around the area, the four teen suspects drove away from one dealership in a brand new stolen Dodge Avenger, according to the report.
As police attempted to follow that stolen car, the suspects pulled into nearby Raleigh Court and began running into residential backyards, police said.
“We used a helicopter and K9 to locate them,” Hurlbut said.
Police established a perimeter around the neighborhood and a California Highway Patrol aircraft responded, quickly locating the four suspects hiding in different yards, according to the Fairfield Police Department.
Under the direction of the air support unit, a team of officers including K9 “Jack” searched the backyards for the suspects, locating and arresting all four. Jack apprehended three of the suspects.
Police said all four suspects sustained minor cuts and abrasions as a result of their flight on foot in the dark.
The investigation revealed the suspects – all runaways – traveled to Fairfield in a Dodge truck stolen from Lake County, police said.
Officer Kory Reynolds of the CHP's Clear Lake Area office told Lake County News that the 2003 Dodge Dakota pickup was reported stolen on July 21 from Hidden Valley Lake.
Fairfield Police said the teens smashed windows at two car dealerships and stole sodas and car keys.
They allegedly used the keys to identify and steal a new Dodge Avenger sedan which they subsequently abandoned when they saw police, according to the report.
Also located in the stolen pickup they drove to Fairfield were three .38 caliber revolvers. Hurlbut said police believe the guns were stolen.
The four juveniles were booked into juvenile hall on charges of auto theft, burglary and possession of stolen property, police said.
Hurlbut said Tuesday that the teens already have entered guilty pleas in the case.
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