Fresno County Sheriff’s deputies have booked Ronald Castanon, 20, of Clovis into the Fresno County Jail. He faces 11 felony counts which include robbery, burglary, assault with a deadly weapon, possession of a stolen vehicle, evading police, and committing a crime while out on bail.
On October 4th at 1:00 am, Castanon robbed the Arco gas station at 4149 N. Clovis Ave. He pointed a gun at the clerk, demanded cash and then left the store with the money. Later the same day, at 9:30 am, Castanon committed an armed robbery at Yo Town Frozen Yogurt at 29424 Auberry Rd. in Prather. Again, he pointed a gun at an employee, took cash from the register and also stole the employee’s wallet and cell phone.
On October 5th at 12:45 am, FSO deputies were patrolling the Pinedale area when they spotted a car driven by Ronald Castanon. They recognized he was associated with the recent robberies, a burglary and various assault with a deadly weapon cases. Deputies took time to coordinate with Fresno Police and the California Highway Patrol’s helicopter (H40) to make a traffic stop on the Chevy Impala, which was discovered to be stolen.
However, at around 3:15 am, the suspect realized law enforcement was after him, so he began to evade officers by traveling west on Herndon Ave., south on Brawley to Shaw Ave. and then eventually got on northbound Hwy. 99.
Once on the freeway, the deputy turned on his lights and sirens to try and pull Castanon over. He refused to stop and increased his speed to 120 mph and then threw a gun out the window between the Shaw and Herndon exits, which officers later recovered. H40 located the suspect in the area of Ave. 7 in Madera County and stayed overhead as Castanon reached 130 mph. FSO deputies notified Madera Police, Madera CHP and the Madera Sheriff’s Office of the pursuit that was headed their direction.
At 3:50 am, Castanon traveled onto westbound Hwy. 152. Deputies informed Los Banos Police of the pursuit. Castanon continued onto northbound I-5 at speeds well above 100 mph. Once Castanon reached Hwy. 580, south of Tracy, his car ran out of gas and he abandoned the Impala. He left the car on the freeway with no lights on. A short time later, dispatchers received reports that Castanon attempted to carjack two different passing motorists by grabbing ahold of their door handles. Fortunately, the drivers did not allow him to enter their cars and were able to safely drive away.
A broadcast was put out to Tracy Police, the San Joaquin Sheriff’s Office and Stockton area CHP to be on the lookout for the wanted suspect. Officers who arrived later found the blacked out car on the freeway and pushed it into the center median to prevent motorists from crashing into it.
Deputies gathered information which lead to a search in the area of 37400 S. Bird Rd. At 8:30 a.m., the Fresno County Sheriff’s helicopter, Eagle One, assisted deputies on the ground and they found Castanon hiding in some grass near a gravel plant. Castanon refused to comply with the deputy’s commands to surrender, so he deployed his K9. The dog bit Castanon, which allowed the deputy take him into custody. Castanon was transported to San Joaquin General Hospital (French Camp, CA) and treated for his injuries.
Deputies recovered the stolen Chevy Impala and found methamphetamine inside the car. This vehicle was identified as being involved in the previously mentioned robberies.
This remains an ongoing investigation. Anyone with additional information on Ronald Castanon is asked to contact the Sheriff’s Office at (559) 600-3111or Crime Stoppers at (559) 498-STOP (7867).
