Galt police arrest two suspects in string of mail thefts

Wes Bowers, Lodi News-Sentinel, Calif.

Feb. 20—GALT — A Stockton man and Olivehurst woman were arrested in Galt this week on suspicion of a series of mail thefts that have plagued the city since January.

According to the Galt Police Department, a total of 28 mail thefts had been reported since the beginning of the new year, and officers had identified a suspect vehicle from surveillance footage provided during the investigation.

At about 12:52 a.m. Wednesday, officers patrolling the area of East Stockton Boulevard and Winn Drive conducted a traffic stop on the vehicle, and found a significant amount of stolen mail during a search, police said.

Officers determined the occupants were in Galt that morning to steal mail, and were involved in the numerous thefts reported around town, as well as in other nearby cities, the Galt Police Department said.

Stockton resident Misael Cazares, 28, and Olivehurst resident Ricki Jene Megazzi, 32, were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy, identity theft to obtain credit, and possession of burglary tools. Both were booked into Sacramento County Jail.

An investigation is ongoing, police said.

Two escape San Joaquin County Honor Farm

On Feb. 16 at about 7 p.m., correctional officers at the San Joaquin County Sheriff's Honor Farm in French Camp discovered two men had escaped, just an hour after conducting a head count in which all inmates had been present.

Officers discovered the escape after finding the inmates' jail clothing near a fence line, the Sheriff's Office said.

Jail staff identified the escapees as Esteban Pareja, 37, and Romero Gonzales, 35. Both had been booked for various drug and weapons offenses, according to the Sheriff's Office.

Both men were found and arrested on the 3400 block of Hammer Lane in Stockton on Feb. 17. Gonzales was immediately taken to the San Joaquin County Jail, and Pareja was taken to an area hospital for treatment of injuries he sustained during the escape, the Sheriff's Office said.

Later that day, deputies arrested 50-year-old Susan Renee Chapple for helping Gonzales and Pareja escape, the Sheriff's Office said.

She was booked into San Joaquin County Jail on suspicion of being accessory to a crime, conspiring to commit a crime, possession of methamphetamines with intent to sell, and receiving stolen property, the Sheriff's Office said.

Recommended Stories

  • The 23 Best New Menswear Items to Buy This Week

    The freshest menswear, cowboy boots, and robes worth your disposable income, handpicked by GQ editors.Originally Appeared on GQ

  • As 'Kimye' become Kim and Kanye, will it stay peaceful?

    Initial signs suggest a smooth and amicable split between Kim Kardashian West and Kanye West. As “Kimye” becomes just Kim and Kanye with Kardashian filing for divorce Friday in Los Angeles Superior Court, they do so with a prenuptial agreement in place, independent fortunes and a desire to share time with their four young children. “Where rich, productive people are getting married, the prenup will usually say that ‘My income stays mine and your income stays yours,'" said attorney Daniel Jaffe, a major player in Southern California's celebrity divorces for decades.

  • Cynthia Erivo, Shaka King and More Discuss Black Identity in Film

    Leading Black filmmakers, producers and writers opened up about what inspired them to enter cinema and the importance of capturing the Black diasporic experience on screen during a virtual panel co-hosted by the American Cinematheque and the African American Film Critics Association. In celebration of Black History Month, the “Black Identity Through Cinema” panel featured […]

  • Sac PD says protests at state Capitol in 2020 resulted in more violent crime

    Sacramento police say a series of protests near the state Capitol in 2020 resulted in higher crime rates than the previous year. In its 2020 violent crime statistics released Thursday, the department said the protests forced them to pull officers out of communities, which they say resulted in an increase in murders, gun violence and gang activity around the city. See more in the video above.

  • 2021 Giants Offseason Preview

    Hayden Winks analyzes what type of players the Giants are searching for on offense and defense this offseason. (Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports)

  • Driver arrested on DWI, other charges in fiery Charlotte fatal head-on wreck

    Speeding driver over-corrected and barreled across median into oncoming car, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police said.

  • Owner Of Funeral Escort Company Insists His Vehicles Look Different Than Florida Law Enforcement

    Jeremy, an owner of a funeral escort company in Florida, says he wants to prove he’s not impersonating a police officer. He says although he’s been accused of this and faces up to 85 years in prison, he has gone to great lengths to make sure his company’s uniforms and vehicles appear different than law enforcement in Florida, where he lives. “Do you think an average citizen would be confused and mistake this for a police car?” Dr. Phil asks Jeremy after examining the vehicles his company uses. Hear Jeremy’s response in the video above. On Friday’s episode, see how Jeremy explains his behavior during a run-in with a driver while conducting a funeral escort. Watch more from “Playing Cop … Or Just Doing His Job?” And on Monday, Jeremy is confronted by a former military police officer who says he has been closely following and questioning Jeremy’s story online. Plus, Jeremy asked to take a polygraph to clear his name. See the results. Check local listings to see where you can tune in. TELL DR. PHIL YOUR STORY: Need Dr. Phil to get real with someone? WATCH: Owner Of Funeral Escort Company Explains How His Uniforms And Badge Differ From The Ones Worn By Police

  • Republican former Senator Bob Dole gets visit from Biden after cancer diagnosis

    U.S. President Joe Biden visited former Senator Bob Dole on Saturday, the White House said, two days after the Kansas Republican announced that he had been diagnosed with advanced lung cancer. "He's doing well," Biden told reporters later on Saturday as he emerged from a church service. Prior to that, Biden paid a visit to the Watergate complex in Washington where the 97-year-old Dole lives.

  • Stranded international college students feel abandoned. They are suing the US government.

    Without in-person classes, DHS and ICE banned first-year international students from entering America. Now they're fighting back with a lawsuit.

  • Arlington man gets $17,000 electricity bill. Gov. Abbott will address price spikes

    The governor will meet with Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, Speaker Dade Phelan and members of the Texas Legislature to get Texans off the hook for the unreasonable spikes.

  • Ron Kim, a New York Democrat who's called out Cuomo's nursing home coverup for months, says it's time for the governor to face the music

    The progressive Democrat talked with Insider about fighting for the truth about New York's nursing home deaths, and facing Cuomo's wrath.

  • Pope pays surprise visit to home of elderly Holocaust survivor

    Pope Francis paid a surprise visit on Saturday to the home of Edith Bruck, a Hungarian-born Holocaust survivor and author, and paid homage to all those killed by Nazi "insanity". Bruck, 89, who lives in Rome, was born into a poor Jewish family and spent time in a series of concentration camps, losing her father, mother and brother in them. A Vatican spokesman, who announced the visit after it ended, said the two spoke of her time in the camps and the importance that future generations be made aware of what happened.

  • Mercedes recalls thousands of SUVs over a software error

    The car's Electronic Stability Program software adds pressure to one of the front wheels pulling the car to one side during maneuvers.

  • Parents at Ted Cruz’s daughter’s exclusive Texas school demand they quarantine as family is pictured maskless on beach

    Senator accused of displaying ‘hypocritical behaviour’

  • North Korea's nukes aren't going anywhere, and the US needs to get over it

    Opinion: Biden's approach to North Korea is a departure from Trump, but the continued insistence on denuclearization isn't going to achieve anything.

  • The Justice Department and FBI are investigating whether Roger Stone and Alex Jones played a role in the Capitol siege, report says

    Federal investigators are studying how the agitation of right-wing influencers might have inspired the Capitol insurrection, says the Washington Post.

  • National Guard on standby in DC for March 4 - the day QAnon followers believe that Trump will become president

    The conspiracy theorists are clinging on to the bizarre hope that Trump will be sworn in as president on March 4, 2021.

  • 16 things you should always make in a slow cooker

    Good things take time: Some of your favorite comfort foods actually work best when you make them in a slow cooker.

  • USC students reboot NAACP chapter as energy increases around building controversy

    “I think students are ready for change.”

  • Russian court rejects Navalny appeal, setting up potential transfer to penal colony

    A Russian court on Saturday rejected leading Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny's appeal against his prison sentence. The decision, which was expected, did reduce the term by about six weeks, but the opposition leader is now facing around two-and-a-half years in prison. It's unclear whether Navalny will be moved from the high-security Moscow prison where he's currently being held to a penal colony, but the squashed appeal does pave the way for such a transfer, The New York Times reports. The Kremlin is expected to face international backlash over the latest development. Per Reuters, Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics said the Council of Europe could soon impose sanctions on Russia if Navalny isn't freed, and the Times notes Moscow, which joined the human rights-focused council in 1996, could potentially withdraw or face expulsion. Navalny, one of Russian President Vladimir Putin's top rivals, was detained for violating parole (Navalny has said the charges are politically motivated) in January upon returning to Moscow from Berlin, where he spent months recovering from a poisoning, which he and others allege was carried out by Russia's FSB spy agency. The detention sparked mass protests across Russia, resulting in thousands of arrests. Read more at The New York Times and Reuters. More stories from theweek.com5 outrageously funny cartoons about Ted Cruz's Cancun getawayAmerican politicians hide behind the palace wallsOn the path of the Know Nothing