A report of smoke coming from the Medical Arts building in Garden Grove Monday afternoon sent firefighters to the complex at 12601 Garden Grove Blvd.
But one of the Garden Grove Fire Department trucks was lighter on not only water once the smoke was cleared, but also a portable generator with a halogen light affixed to it.
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Some doors on the unattended truck had been left open as firefighters worked the scene between 12:30 and 2:30 p.m. Unfortunately for the thief who walked off with the generator in plain sight, surveillance cameras are mounted on the front of the Medical Arts building.
Garden Grove police investigators took a look at the tape recorded by the camera, and sure enough, someone who may have exited the building later showed up in an SUV that pulled up alongside the firetruck. He was then seen getting out, pulling the generator off the fire truck, taking it back to the SUV and driving away.
Based on the description of the SUV and the thief in the video, police zeroed in on Joe Gomez Jr., 47, of Anaheim. Detectives then showed up at Gomez's home and found Gomez inside as well as a portable generator with a halogen light affixed to it. He was arrested on suspicion of grand theft and possession of stolen property.
The light was returned to the fire department, which is hopefully looking into locks.
OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.