By Laura Austin News Review Staff Writer– Tuesday morning at approximately 8 AM, Ridgecrest Police Officer Michael Ogas was dispatched to The Indian Wells Valley Water District (Water District) for a report of a burglary.
With the aid of video surveillance, the Water District reported that there had been a theft of about $2500 of copper tubing from their place of business. The Water District then contacted Dave Pearsons Recycling of the theft and requested they be on the lookout for possible offload of the copper tubing.
While Officer Ogas was speaking with the Water District on the phone, the District received a phone call advising that two persons were attempting to sell the stolen copper tubing at Pearsons Recycling.
Officer Ogas immediately responded calling for backup to the Pearsons location and attempted to make contact with the suspects. The two suspects, upon seeing Officer Ogas, fled the scene and Ogas began pursuit. The first suspect was detained with little resistance.
The second suspect fled on foot but was apprehended after a brief foot pursuit. He was attempting to evade Officer Ogas and assisting officers by hiding within Speedway Dismantling across the street. According to the owners of Speedway Dismantling, the suspect was posing as a customer at their business.
Ultimately the two suspects were placed under arrest as they were found to be in possession of the stolen copper tubing and were positively identified by Water District.
The two were transported without further incident to the Central Receiving Facility in Bakersfield. They were booked for Grand Theft of copper materials, possession of stolen property and felony with conspiracy to commit a crime.
