Man suspected of stealing police gear is arrested

ESCONDIDO

Escondido police arrested a man early Thursday who was found passed out in a vehicle, wearing a ballistic vest and surrounded by rifle magazines, shotgun ammunition and other police gear he allegedly stole from a law enforcement officer in San Diego the previous day, authorities said.

A caller reported him passed out in a vehicle around 1:10 a.m. outside the 7-Eleven on West Ninth Avenue near Centre City Parkway, according to Lt. Kevin Toth. The caller reported the man was likely under the influence of drugs and had not responded to attempts at waking him.

When the officers approached, they recognized the man — identified as 30 years old with an unspecified criminal record — and noticed he was wearing a police-style ballistic vest with “loaded rifle magazines ... plainly visible on the front passenger seat next to him,” Toth said in a news release.

Once officers roused and detained the man, they searched his vehicle and found four fully loaded rifle magazines, 126 rounds of rifle and shotgun ammunition and stolen police gear, including a tactical vest, a duty belt, handcuffs and a medical kit, Toth said. Officers also found small amounts of methamphetamine and heroin in the vehicle.

Investigators determined the police gear had been stolen Wednesday in San Diego and arrested the man on suspicion of drug, weapon and stolen property charges, Toth said. He was booked into the Vista Detention Facility, but was no longer in custody by Thursday night.

The gear was stolen from the vehicle of an investigator from the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office, according to an email from Toth.

Steve Walker, a spokesman for the District Attorney’s Office, said the items were stolen from “a county vehicle assigned to a DA investigator who had removed all firearms from the vehicle in compliance with state law.”