Phone caper results in arrest

At 11:30 p.m. last Wednesday police were dispatched to the Casa Grande parking lot and found two males rummaging through a pickup owned by Mary’s Pizza Shack and trying to open doors on various other cars until they got in a Green Ford Explorer and drove off. Deputies responding to the call saw a vehicle matching the description at First Street and Nathanson Creek, made a “u” turn and pulled it over. Inside were four males. All were detained. One was found to be in possession of a small amount of marijuana, for which he was later cited, and another in possession of a purple cell phone, which he admitted did not belong to him.
Police used the phone to call someone to try to determine whose phone it was, and it turned out to belong to a woman who was at the Swiss Hotel attending a holiday party. She said she’d left her cell phone in her purse, which she’d had hanging behind her chair at the party or in a planter behind her chair. She valued the purse at $400. Police continued to search the vehicle and found a black leather purse which contained the woman’s California license, her keys, and $40 in cash.
Police arrested William Pech, 18, from Boyes Hot Springs, for possession of stolen property and sent him to Sonoma County Jail. A 21-year-old was cited for possession of marijuana. The other two were released.