On Friday, August 26th, 2022, at 1:15 am, the Turlock Police Department was dispatched to a reported suspicious person at Motel 6, 250 S Walnut Rd, Turlock, after an employee had reported that he had seen a man in the bed of a work truck who had left the area on foot shortly after he had confronted him.

Officers arrived in the area a few minutes later and located a man matching the description on S Walnut Rd just south of the business. They made contact with him and identified him as Jamie Sampson, 37, of Georgia.

When officers had their dispatcher run Sampson, he returned to be on searchable probation for possession of a stolen vehicle.

A subsequent probation search of Sampson led to the discovery of narcotics and a key which was determined to belong to the work truck that Sampson had been seen in.

Officers had their dispatcher run the license plate on the work truck and it returned to a 2019, however, the vehicle was clearly an older generation one. Additionally, the vehicle’s identification number had been scratched off or otherwise obstructed in several locations.

Officers conducted a preliminary search of the vehicle and came across a license plate which they had their dispatcher run. It returned to a stolen 2011, which matched the generation of the vehicle they were out with. Further investigation confirmed that the license plate belonging to the stolen 2011 was indeed the one that they were out with.

After the vehicle was confirmed to be stolen,  a more thorough search was conducted which led to the discovery of five additional license plates, four of which were reported stolen.

Officers brought the employee who had reported Sampson out to him and asked if that was indeed the man who he had seen in the bed of the truck, which he confirmed.

Sampson was questioned and denied any wrongdoing, providing a story with several discrepancies and obviously straight up lying several times.

Sampson was arrested and booked into the Stanislaus County Public Safety Center on charges of possession of a stolen vehicle, possession of stolen property, possession of methamphetamines, and possession of drug paraphernalia.