Three Yuba City men arrested in undercover sting for stolen farming equipment, sheriff says

Three Yuba City men were arrested Tuesday after Sutter County deputies found allegedly stolen farming equipment worth thousands of dollars in their possession, the Sutter County Sheriff’s Office said.

The three men — identified as Matthew Lewis, 39, Joshua Walton, 39, and Jatinder Chohan, 42 — were caught in an undercover sting operation that was the culmination of a weeks-long investigation, the sheriff’s office said.

The investigation began after several pieces of farming equipment, valued at $200,000, were reported stolen. Thefts continued to be reported in different areas of Sutter County.

During the sting operation Tuesday, detectives recovered more than $100,000 in farming equipment, the sheriff’s office said.

Lewis, Walton and Chohan were booked into the Sutter County Jail on suspicion of possession of stolen property, grand theft, conspiracy, and resisting arrest. However, they have already been released because to to the ongoing COVID-19 lockdown, which has lowered the bail schedule to most misdemeanor and lower-level felonies, the sheriff’s office said.

This story was originally published May 6, 2020 at 12:40 PM.