Santa Ana : Auto Theft Suspect Arrested Near Jail

On Friday morning, after having worked a night at County Jail, Sheriff’s Deputy Ralph Trejo, in his civilian clothes and heading toward his car, thought he was off duty.

But a broken window in a pickup truck in the parking lot just west of the jail attracted his attention. As he looked closer, a head seemed to be bobbing in and out of sight in the cab. Inside, he said, he saw a man with a screwdriver working rapidly on the ignition switch.

A sheriff’s spokesman said Trejo, who was unarmed, called over another deputy going off duty, and the two detained Gustavo Lopez Sanchez, 20, of Laguna Beach and turned him over to Santa Ana police. Sanchez was arrested on suspicion of attempted auto theft.