By Nate Gartrell
Bay Area News Group
FREMONT, Calif. — Police here were conducting surveillance on a suspected gang member wanted for evading officers, burglary, grand theft and more, when they noticed something unusual on his light blue Honda Accord.
It appeared their suspect was challenging the cops to a chase; the roof was emblazoned with, “Catch me if you can, Fremont PD,” in black spray paint, according to authorities.
But the Newark detectives on the surveillance team didn’t take the bait. Instead, they followed the man home and planned a police raid of the residence several days later, where they found suspected cocaine and a pistol inside the man’s apartment at Camden Village in Fremont, court records show.
The 22-year-old man was arrested on Oct. 8, having spent three months with active warrants from Santa Clara and Alameda counties. Given a chance to blame his mother or her boyfriend for the pistol found in the apartment, the suspected Norteño gangster refused. He told the cops that the gun was his, and they booked him into jail, according to authorities.
It was a short stay. Two weeks later, he posted $30,000 bail and has been out of custody ever since, according to court records.
The 22-year-old man had been wanted on suspicion of leading police on two chases, possessing a stolen car, stealing Yeezy sneakers from a store, and violating probation for a prior conviction of possessing a stolen vehicle. On the day that the message to Fremont police was observed on his Honda, police also noted that the vehicle was equipped with license plates that were registered to a 2007 Lexus, according to court records.
Despite three of his four arrest warrants stemming from alleged crimes in Alameda County, the man has only been charged with receiving stolen property and driving a stolen car, both felonies. The remaining crimes are still under investigation, authorities said.
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