****Update*** The Fresno HEAT Task Force has found and arrested Ke Moua.
The 25-year-old man has been booked into the Fresno County Jail on five felony counts. They include vehicle theft (2), receiving stolen property (2) and operating a chop shop.
On April 8th, 2015, a concerned citizen called Fresno County Sheriff’s Office dispatchers to report a possible stolen 1998 Honda Civic was being stripped of parts in a field.
The witness said they saw two Asian men loading parts from the Civic into a white 1989 Toyota pickup truck in the area of Belmont and Grantland Ave.
At approximately 5:15 pm, patrol deputies responded to the area and saw the suspects flee in the Toyota truck. Deputies found the truck abandoned a short distance away. Inside the truck, deputies discovered car parts and documents from the Honda Civic, which was later determined to be stolen. Deputies, along with an FSO K9 and Fresno Police Department’s helicopter, Air 1, searched the area but no suspects were located.
Members of the Fresno HEAT (Help Eliminate Auto Theft) Task Force were called in to investigate. HEAT is comprised of members from the California Highway Patrol, Fresno County Sheriff's Office (FCSO), the National Insurance Crime Bureau and Clovis Police Department.
HEAT investigators traced the Toyota truck to a home on the 12600 block of West C Street in Biola. It’s a house well-known to law enforcement. Inside the garage, investigators found a stolen 1998 Yamaha Quad ATV along with an engine and transmission from another stolen vehicle. The engine and transmission were being installed into a blue Honda car belonging to one of the residents.
Anyone with additional information on Ke Moua is asked to please contact the Sheriff’s Office at (559) 600-3111 or call Crime Stoppers at (559) 498-STOP (7867).
