Police: Catalytic converter theft suspects arrested after search
Juan Carlos Fuentes and Anthony Linarez-Varrios tried to evade capture by hiding but were unsuccessful, according to police and public records.
Police arrested two young men who fled in a stolen car early Sunday morning while trying to ditch Berkeley cops in a North Oakland block, authorities report.
Police found multiple catalytic converters in the stolen car, which the driver crashed near 60th Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Way while trying to evade capture, Berkeley police said.
A South Berkeley resident in the 1700 block of Stuart Street (near Grant Street) initially called police at about 2:30 a.m. to report suspicious activity.
When police arrived, they found a gray Toyota Prius with a missing catalytic converter, according to radio dispatches reviewed by The Scanner.
Witnesses told police three people fled the area in a dark gray Infiniti that went westbound on Stuart.
Police picked up the Infiniti heading south on Martin Luther King Jr. Way from Ashby Avenue shortly before 3 a.m., according to radio dispatches.
Police did not chase the vehicle, BPD said, but an officer followed the driver and saw the car crash near MLK and 60th Street in North Oakland.
Over the radio, an officer said he saw three people get out of the Infiniti and walk west on 60th Street.
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Berkeley patrol officers quickly set up a perimeter and began searching the area.
BPD also determined that the crashed Infiniti, which had its moonroof and windows smashed, had been stolen out of South San Francisco but had not yet been reported.
At about 3:15 a.m., an officer saw two young men walking east on 59th Street toward MLK, he reported over the radio.
Police arrested the men without incident, according to radio traffic.
Berkeley Police Lt. Peter Lee said officers found multiple catalytic converters in the stolen car.
Lee said BPD had tried to stop the driver but he failed to yield and later crashed into the center median on MLK.
One person managed to escape, Lee said.
The arrested men, who live in Stockton and San Francisco, were identified as Juan Carlos Fuentes, 19, and 21-year-old Anthony Linarez-Varrios, according to jail records.
Both men were arrested on suspicion of vehicle theft, possession of a stolen vehicle, grand theft, receiving stolen property and possession of burglary tools, according to jail records.
Fuentes also was arrested on suspicion of driving on the wrong side of the road while evading police, records show.
He is being held on $300,000 bail and Linarez-Varrios on $255,000 bail.
Both are scheduled for arraignment Wednesday.
Neither man has previously been charged with crimes in Alameda County, according to court records.
