FRESNO - On the morning of July 21st, a truck attached to a trailer carrying two porta-potties was stolen from a business yard in Fresno. The suspect smashed the truck through a fence, causing thousands of dollars in damages. The owner of the truck discovered the theft and made a report to the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office. He told dispatchers he had located the truck through an onboard GPS tracker.

A deputy went to the location and spotted the truck, which belonged to United Site Services. The deputy attempted to make a traffic stop, but the suspect refused and took off. About two minutes into the pursuit, the suspect made an extremely dangerous maneuver by driving onto some railroad tracks in the area of N9rth Teilman Avenue and he continued across a bridge that passes over Highway 99.

Once on the other side, the man abandoned the truck and began to run. Assisting in the pursuit were detectives who are assigned to the Help Eliminate Auto Theft (H.E.A.T.) Task Force. One of the detectives realized the suspect was taking a similar path to a pursuit he was involved in just two months ago.

Rather than approach the tracks, the detective made a U-turn and drove to a nearby home on North Channing Way. This was the house where the suspect lived when H.E.A.T. made an arrest in May. The detective arrived at the Channing address and sure enough, saw the same suspect from May, Francisco Melendez, run into the house.

Officers set up a perimeter around the home, made calls for him to exit and Melendez eventually walked out and surrendered peacefully. Melendez is one of Fresno County's most prolific auto thieves.