On Tuesday, January 6th, deputies arrested 45-year-old Rodney Carder and booked him into the Fresno County Jail.
Deputies were dispatched to a report of multiple vehicles being stolen from a piece of property on the 7700 block of S. Madera Ave. in Kerman.
The victim reported that a dozen items on the property had been stolen. This included a few trailers, some shop equipment, a couple of older tractors and five cars. Among those cars are: three Corvettes (1978, 1981, 1986), a 1969 Ford Ranchero, along with a 1950s Ford Jubilee tractor.
The victim told deputies that his uncle used to live at the home, but did not own it and just recently passed away. The owner of the home allowed the victim to continue storing his items behind a fenced off area on the property.
On Monday, the property owner noticed two men doing some clean-up work on the land and asked them what they were doing. The men claimed they were hired by family members to clean-up the property because the man who used to live there had died. The owner became suspicious and called the victim to validate the story, which proved to be false. The victim drove to the location and discovered his cars, tractors and trailers were missing.
Deputies developed information which led them to the area of Butte and Central, a.k.a. "Alkali Flats." Deputies found one of the stolen Corvettes and the Ford Ranchero at a home on the 3600 block of S. Joaquin Ave. Deputies contacted Rodney Carder at the property and found he had several felony warrants from Fresno County, as well as a couple from Kings County.
Carder, who is no stranger to law enforcement, was booked into the Fresno County Jail on six counts of vehicle theft and numerous drug charges.
There are still other cars, tractors and trailers which have not been recovered. Detectives are asking anyone with information on this case to please contact the Sheriff’s Office at (559) 600-3111 or Crime Stoppers at (559) 498-STOP (7867).
