Photo: Refugio Ortega
The Tulare County Sheriff’s Office arrested two men for various car burglaries that occurred in their county –
“Over the past several weeks, there has been an increase in car burglaries along Rocky Hill Drive in Exeter. TCSO Deputies and Community Based Officers identified Refugio Ortega of Lindsay as a suspect. It was also discovered Ortega had an active felony warrant for violating the terms of his Post Release Community Supervision. Ortega was also a person of interest for several other agencies for multiple serious felonies.
Alonzo Ruiz
Detectives from the TCSO CATTCH team and CBO’s began working details along Rocky Hill Drive to stop the thefts, as well as catch the suspect responsible.
On 4/16/20, Detectives saw Ortega and another man peering into the window of an empty car. When Detectives approached the two, Ortega ran off, throwing a loaded gun down while he was running. When a Detective caught up to him, Ortega became violent. The Detective was able to subdue Ortega and take him into custody. The gun was also found to be stolen out of the Lindsay area.
The other man, 34-year-old Alonzo Ruiz of Porterville, surrendered without incident. Ruiz also had a felony warrant for violating the terms of his Post Release Community Supervision.
Both men had meth on them during the incident. The vehicle the two came in was an unreported stolen truck out of Porterville. Both were booked on multiple felony charges.”
