Placer County man arrested after deputy follows footprints to his house, officials say

A trail of muddy footprints led a deputy to the home of a Placer County man who was arrested on suspicion of stealing tools from a construction site, the Placer County Sheriff’s Office said.

On Nov. 18, the sheriff’s office received a report that a metal container on a construction site in Auburn had been broken into and a circular saw and pump were taken. It appeared that the burglar used a torch to cut a hole in the side of the container.

A construction site supervisor noticed footprints around the containers leading toward the sidewalk, the sheriff’s office said, along with “what appeared to be tracks from the wheels of a dolly.”

A deputy followed the tracks from the sidewalk into a dirt field and the tracks reappeared on the other side of the field, leading to a nearby neighborhood.

The tracks “disappeared near a house,” the sheriff’s office said.

“The deputy conducted further investigation on the occupants of the house, which lead to a possible suspect,” according to the news release.

The suspect was identified a Lucas Strom, who is on probation for theft and drug charges, the sheriff’s office said.

Strom, 40, had already been booked into Auburn Jail that morning for a probation violation and attempting to bribe an officer. The deputy went to the jail to compare Strom’s boots to the footprints found at the construction site and they were a match, the sheriff’s office said.

In a probation search of his residence, officers found the missing tools and a large cutting torch.

“They found the stolen circular saw in a truck and the stolen pump in the barn,” the news release said.

Strom was also booked on suspicion of burglary and remains at Auburn Jail.