July 8-18: Bait Car Thieves Caught Guitar-Handed

Good Bait

Two hoods picked the wrong car to break into last week.

The Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department placed a bait car in an area of Fair Oaks that proved just too tempting for two individuals last Wednesday evening. The two male subjects smashed out a window and grabbed a $600 Les Paul guitar that was outfitted with a tracking device, said Deputy Jason Ramos, spokesman for the sheriff’s department.

The department received an alert that the car had been tampered with and followed the tracking signal to a two-door Honda Civic officers stopped at Fair Oaks Boulevard and New York Avenue, Ramos said.

Occupying the car were Elias Gabriel Inojus, 31, of Sacramento and Daniel James Sowles, 25, of Carmichael. And, oh yeah, the Les Paul was in the backseat.

During their search of the suspects, deputies found a set of black brass knuckles in Hinojus’ pants pocket and broken automobile glass in the cuff of his pants, according to the incident report.

In the car, which Hirojus was reportedly driving, deputies also located a glass smoking pipe and two small plastic bindles containing a white crystalline substance determined to be methamphetamine, the report stated.

Sowles was arraigned last Friday in Sacramento Superior Court on three felony counts, including second-degree burglary, possession of known stolen property, and possession of methamphetamine, as well as one misdemeanor charge of possession of drug paraphernalia. Hirojus was arraigned Thursday on the same charges, as well as an additional felony count of unlawful possession of a dangerous weapon.

As for the bait car, Ramos said the department would likely use it again, which is why he didn’t describe its make or model and asked that the location the car was placed not be revealed.

“We’ll probably want to use it again,” he said. “I think that’s a pretty good location.”

Drug Sniffers

Authorities followed their noses in making a drug bust last week at a residence a few miles northwest of Fair Oaks.

Sheriff’s deputies had arrived at the Peppermill Court residence just after midnight July 16 to serve an arrest warrant for possession of methamphetamine on Joseph Reading.

No one answered when the deputies announced themselves, Ramos said, so they entered through the front door, which was already open.

Reading was found and arrested in a bedroom.

But while officers were clearing the residence, they caught the distinct – and strong – odor of marijuana emanating from another bedroom.

According to a sheriff’s department report, a small amount of marijuana was in plain view and a resulting search turned up a cardboard box containing four large bags of marijuana.

It wasn’t until deputies found 22-year-old William James Dichiara hiding in the bedroom closet, however, that they found the person they believed responsible for all that weed.

Dichiara is scheduled to be arraigned Monday on a single felony count of possession with the intent to sell.