Stolen Vehicle Suspect Arrested Near Saugus Cafe

Seriff's Deputies investigate as the driver of the white late model Volkswagen at left, is detained in the back seat of a Sheriff's cruiser after he was taken into custody at gun point at the Plaza Clarita shopping center at Drayton Street and Railroad Avenue in Santa Clarita on Friday, November 23, 2018. Dan Watson/The Signal
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Jose Garcia, 18, of San Fernando was arrested Friday after Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s deputies said they spotted him in a reportedly stolen vehicle.

Described as driving a white Volkswagen Jetta that had been stolen earlier on Friday from San Fernando, the suspect and car were spotted by the license plate reading cameras here in Santa Clarita, said Lt. Leo Bauer of the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station.

Found near most major railways here in Santa Clarita, the cameras scan license plates that pass by and determine if the plate is registered or associated with anyone on a government watch list, which would then use a multi-agency law enforcement database to alert the appropriate authorities, according to officials.

Deputies were eventually able to locate and surround the vehicle at the intersection of Railroad Avenue and Drayton Street, directly in front of Saugus Cafe.

L.A. County Sheriff’s Deputies investigate after a traffic stop at the Plaza Clarita shopping center at Drayton Street and Railroad Avenue in Santa Clarita on Friday, November 23, 2018. Dan Watson/The Signal

“He was surrounded and taken into custody without incident,” said Bauer. “He was taken at gunpoint, but that is standard procedure for a felony traffic stop like this.”

Garcia told the arresting officers that he was in Santa Clarita with the car because he was going to “visit his girlfriend.”

Garcia was booked at the SCV Sheriff’s Station Friday afternoon on suspicion of a felony charge of taking a vehicle without the owner’s consent.

There were credit cards found inside of the vehicle, but no charges have been linked to those items, according to Bauer.

Garcia was being held Friday in lieu of $25,000 bail.

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