Photo: Michael Guillermo Mendoza
On December 9th, 33-year-old Michael Guillermo Mendoza went into the Auburn Home Depot, loaded up over $1,00 worth of power tools, and then proceeded to walk out of the store with them in his cart…. all without paying.
The Sacramento citizen then put the stolen items in his car. Perhaps he felt all was going well for him, until his car wouldn’t start.
Then it got worse for Mendoza. Employees and witnesses came out of the store and followed him to his car. They confronted him about his theft and demanded the items back.
The suspect then threw some of the items out of his open sunroof window. Maybe he was persuaded to do so after one of the citizen witnesses opened the back door of his car and retrieved other stolen items.
After his unsuccessful attempts to get a jump start or hitch a ride from nearby citizens, Mendoza ran away on foot. K9 Ronin was on his tail, and discovered the suspect at the Starbucks on Willow Creek Drive.
The Placer County Sheriff’s Office summarizes, “Mendoza was arrested and charged with burglary and grand theft, including possession of methamphetamine and possession of drug paraphernalia. He also had warrants out of Nevada County. Mendoza is currently on probation for being under the influence of a controlled substance out of Nevada County.”
