Watch alleged power tool thief struggle to start car outside Auburn Home Depot
Placer County authorities arrested a Sacramento man accused of stealing power tools from a Home Depot store in Auburn, with surveillance video showing a comical series of events as the alleged thief tried to get away.
Michael Mendoza, 33, was arrested earlier this month by Placer County Sheriff’s deputies, accused of walking out of Home Depot with over $1,100 worth of stolen DeWalt and Milwaukee brand power tools, the sheriff’s office said Wednesday in a Facebook post.
Video shows the alleged thief casually walk out the front entrance of the hardware store with a shopping cart full of tools. The theft occurred Dec. 9, sheriff’s officials said.
“Mendoza, of Sacramento, loaded his car with the items, but got stuck in the parking lot because his car wouldn’t start,” the sheriff’s office post said.
That gave witnesses and store employees time to approach and confronted the suspect in his car, demanding he return the stolen tools. At one point, another man appears to kick the door of the suspect’s car. The suspect is then seen on video throwing some of the items out of his sunroof, after the sheriff’s office says a citizen was able to recover some stolen tools from the vehicle’s trunk.
“Mendoza frantically tried to get citizens to help jump start his car and at one point, he even tried hitching a ride from an elderly woman,” the news release said.
The suspect ended up fleeing on foot, and was found inside a nearby Starbucks by a sheriff’s K-9 unit.
Mendoza told deputies he thought stealing from the Auburn Home Depot store would be an easy getaway.
Mendoza, who had warrants out of Nevada County, was arrested and charged with burglary, grand theft, and possession of methamphetamine and paraphernalia.
This story was originally published December 18, 2019 at 8:43 AM.
