The Santa Ana Police Department is asking for the public's help in finding a carjacking suspect who used to reside in Anaheim and has friends in the area of Santa Ana where the stolen truck was later recovered.
Joe Gamez, 41, is Hispanic, 5-foot-7, 150 pounds with brown hair and brown eyes, according to a police alert.
]
Around 9:45 p.m. on Feb. 26, Gamez is alleged to have approached a past acquaintance who was sitting in a truck at 1201 N. Main Street, Santa Ana, and demanded money that he claimed was owed to him.
Gamez is accused of then beating the victim, who was still in the truck, with his fists. The victim got out the truck and was still being beaten when the truck keys dropped to the ground. Gamez allegedly picked up the keys, got into the truck and drove off.
The truck was later recovered in the 1400 block of North French, Santa Ana, where Gamez is believed to have friends, according to police. He also still has family members at his last known address in the 1200 block Ravenna in Anaheim. Gamez also lived out of state for several years. Here is another look at him:
Anyone with information that can help locate Gamez is asked to contact Santa Ana Robbery Detective Cpl. A. Silva at 714.245.8545 or via email at as****@sa*******.org. Anonymous tips can be left with Orange County Crime Stoppers at 1.855.TIP.OCCS.
Email: mc****@oc******.com. Twitter: @MatthewTCoker. Follow OC Weekly on Twitter @ocweekly or on Facebook!
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.