Sonora, CA—A Sonora man was handcuffed for burglary at a local Sonora store, but it was not the store the alleged thief hit; instead, it was a car in the parking lot.
A caller recently reported a car burglary at the Walmart store in Sonora’s Crossroads Shopping Center, located off Sanguinette Road. Once on scene, officers spoke with the vehicle owner, who stated that “he caught the suspect with his arm through his rear window, trying to unlock the door.” The owner described the suspect and what clothing he was wearing. He stated that he had “personal belongings in the rear seat, but they were not stolen.”
Officers spotted a male matching the witness’s description near the bus stop at Walmart and detained him. He identified him as 39-year-old Charles Smith, a transient from Sonora, who was also positively identified by the witness as the man whose arm he caught inside his car. Officers determined that Smith forced the window down enough to get his arm inside the vehicle. Smith was arrested and booked into the Tuolumne County Jail for felony vehicle burglary and misdemeanor tampering with a vehicle.
