On Thursday, December 9th, 2021, at 11:51 pm, the Turlock Police Department was dispatched to a reported prowler at a residence in the 2600 block of Volk Ave, Turlock, who was walking around the neighborhood looking into mailboxes, including the caller’s.

As officers arrived in the area, the suspect saw them and fled on foot.

Officers looked into the windows of a vehicle they believed to be his, and saw in plain view several mail pieces addressed to random people in Merced County.

Officers checked the area, but were unable to locate the subject. They left but then one of them came back in an unmarked detective vehicle to conduct a stakeout.

At 4:10 am, the officer watched the subject walk back to his vehicle and radioed for officers in marked vehicles to come conduct a takedown. The subject, identified as Juan Perez, 40, of Waterford, was detained without incident.

Perez was determined to be on probation and one of the terms of his probation was that he and anything in his immediate vicinity was able to be searched at anytime by any peace officer. A probation search of his vehicle was conducted and additional mail pieces were located along with some altered and forged checks.

All the mail pieces were determined to be stolen.

Perez was arrested and booked into the Stanislaus County Public Safety Center on charges of theft and forgery.