10 months ago
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TULARE COUNTY, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE) – Detectives with the Tulare County Sheriff's Office solved a mysterious robbery and arson they said was a sham.
Back connected Aug. 2, 38-year-old Pablo Serrano was moving retired of this taco motortruck erstwhile helium was allegedly robbed of his pickup motortruck and the motortruck was torched.
“The telephone was for an equipped robbery of the proprietor of a taco truck. He claimed that astatine that point, $850 was stolen successful currency arsenic good arsenic his 2024 GMC Sierra pickup," Tulare County Sheriff's Office Lieutenant Randy Gunderman said.
Serrano past called instrumentality enforcement, who responded to the determination of his taco truck. Detectives were capable to way down the stolen pickup. They recovered it engulfed successful flames successful an orchard.
“It appeared to beryllium a morganatic robbery. It wasn't until we got the study of the conveyance connected occurrence adjacent Lane Cove and really made interaction with a taxable successful that area," Lt. Gunderman said.
As instrumentality enforcement arrived astatine the country of the burning vehicle, they began talking to a idiosyncratic adjacent the fire.
“We started asking him circumstantial questions arsenic to his cognition of that truck. And it was learned done interrogation that helium was an acquaintance of the unfortunate of Pablo Serrano," Lt. Gunderman said.
Through surveillance video, it was determined that Serrano was not robbed, and instead, staged his ain robbery. The men "robbing" Serrano were his friends.
“We person the video surveillance from the existent taco motortruck itself and the taxable that we contacted adjacent the GMC pickup connected occurrence was successful fact, 1 of the aforesaid subjects that was wrong the taco motortruck astatine the clip of the alleged robbery," Lt. Gunderman said.
Serrano filed an security assertion connected his pickup a time aft it was reported stolen. A week later, helium was nether arrest. One of his accomplices, Juan Mendez, was arrested, according to officials. Another is wanted for questioning.
“It's hours and hours of video surveillance reappraisal and the offering of hunt warrants and truthful connected and truthful distant for realistically a transgression that didn't occur," Lt. Gunderman said.
Serrano's arraignment day is scheduled for Aug. 13.
