See the update at the end of this post detailing how many theft victims were reunited with their property at today's police viewing and how you can check if your stolen stuff remains.
ORIGINAL POST, JAN. 9, 12:30 P.M.: Julio Cesar Pachas is “one of the most prolific vehicle burglars the Garden Grove Police Department has ever experienced,” according to a police official. The 41-year-old and his 20-year-old girlfriend are accused of possessing property stolen from southwest Garden Grove, Cypress, Westminster, Los Alamitos, Buena Park and Los Angeles County between January 2011 and November 2012. But that's not all for Pachas, who allegedly had sex with and took nude photos of his other girlfriend, a 17-year-old minor.
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Several police reports from Garden Grove and other cities where similar car burglaries occurred indicated a white Range Rover had been seen in the area of the thefts, according to a statement from Garden Grove Police Lt. Jeff Nightengale. A victim in September 2012 saw her vehicle being burglarized and was able to get the license plate number of a white Range Rover nearby, the spokesman added.
The plate led Garden Grove investigators to a residence in the city where a search warrant was served. Pachas and the minor girl were stopped leaving the house, and she allegedly told police she had been dating him for a long time and that their relationship was sexual, according to Nightengale.
A check of Pachas' cell phone uncovered nude photos of the girl, and a search of the residence produced a handgun, a “taser” and items believed to have been stolen from vehicles, including 119 California Driver Licenses, 241 credit cards, several hundred purses, wallets, backpacks, suitcases and nearly $100,000 in cash, Nightengale said.
Pachas was later charged with unlawful sexual intercourse with minor, manufacturing child porn, four counts of burglary, possession of stolen property and possession of handgun by felon. He made bail and was released from custody.
Investigators would go on to link Pachas to thefts from vehicles not just in Garden Grove but Westminster, Cypress, Los Alamitos, Buena Park and Los Angeles County, and based on the additional locations a search warrant was served this past Nov. 20 on other addresses linked to the suspect, including that of a storage unit filled with more stolen property, the police spokesman said.
Pachas and his 20-year-old girlfriend, Michella Ann Fuquay, were later found at his sister's residence, where they were arrested on suspicion of possession of stolen property.
“This investigation lead to the arrest of one of the most prolific vehicle burglars the Garden Grove Police Department has ever experienced,” Nightengale states. “The amount of stolen property that was recovered in the house was astounding.”
The police official today released photos on the following page from inside of the house, before anything was moved. It's a way of giving possible theft victims a
sneak peak of the kinds of items that were recovered before they can be viewed in person.
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Also, anyone recognize this money?
Public viewing will be held from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Thursday at the police department's Community Meeting Center, 11300 Stanford Ave., Garden Grove. “Officers involved in the investigation will be available to answer questions,” according to Nightengale.
The agency also GGPD set up an information line for the public at 714.563.6052.
UPDATE, JAN. 10, 5:13 P.M.: More than 200 people came to the Garden Grove Police Department's stolen property viewing session today, when 120 items were returned to 44 theft victims.
But thousands of items still have not been claimed, so police will place photos of those items on their website (http://www.ci.garden-grove.ca.us/?q=police/frontpage) starting Jan. 17. The photos will be available via a link on the left hand side of the Garden Grove Police Department home page, below “GG's Most Wanted.”
A prerecorded message at 714.563.6052 explains how to contact police investigators to claim property.
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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.