String of armed fast-food robberies near Sacramento ends with Highway 99 police chase
Police arrested a man suspected in a series of recent armed robberies in Elk Grove, including three at fast-food restaurants, following a weekend pursuit that started in Galt and ended on Highway 99 back in Elk Grove.
A woman associated with a stolen vehicle used in the last robbery was also arrested, the Galt and Elk Grove police departments said.
John Vang, a 39-year-old Sacramento man, is accused of robbing two McDonald’s restaurants and a Chipotle at gunpoint, as well as stealing cash and other property from a rental car business into which he broke in. All four thefts happened between July 25 and Saturday, the Elk Grove Police Department said in a news release.
Officers in Galt located a stolen Honda that had been used in the second McDonald’s robbery, the Galt Police Department said in a separate news release. Police found the vehicle near the 800 block of Delane Drive, just east of Highway 99, around 8 p.m. Saturday.
“The driver then got into another vehicle and fled from the locating officer,” police wrote.
The vehicle briefly yielded and a woman got out, the Galt Police Department said, and was “determined to be involved with (the) original stolen Honda.” Police took her into custody.
Authorities said Vang fled officers again, beginning a chase that started in Galt city limits and continued onto northbound Highway 99.
Vang surrendered on the highway, just north of Elk Grove Boulevard, following a pursuit by police and Sacramento County sheriff’s deputies, the two police departments said.
The Elk Grove Police Department said Vang is accused of robbing the McDonald’s location at Sheldon Road and East Stockton Boulevard around 5 a.m. July 25, then fleeing on a motorcycle. Vang allegedly entered the restaurant and started taking money from a cash register, then pulled out a firearm and pointed it at an employee who tried to confront him.
Vang then broke into an undisclosed rental car business around 6 a.m. July 27, police said.
A short time later the same morning, he knocked on the door of a Chipotle at Elk Grove Boulevard and Franklin Road before operating hours, police said. He asked an employee inside for water, then entered and pulled a gun on the employee, demanding money.
Vang fired a shot into the ceiling of the Chipotle as he was leaving, according to the Police Department.
Vang then robbed the McDonald’s on Elk Grove Boulevard near Interstate 5 at gunpoint in that restaurant’s drive-thru around 5 a.m. Saturday, Elk Grove police said, and left with the cash drawer.
The vehicle used in the final robbery had been stolen from another nearby fast food restaurant earlier Saturday morning, according to the Elk Grove police statement. Galt police discovered the car later that evening, after the Elk Grove department put out an alert to local law enforcement including its license plate number.
Vang was arrested and booked into the Sacramento County Main Jail on five felony charges, booking records show: one count each of first-degree robbery, burglary, receipt of a stolen vehicle, vehicle theft and reckless evasion of a police officer. His bail is set at $250,000.
The woman was arrested on suspicion of vehicle theft and possession of a stolen vehicle, the Galt Police Department said. Neither police department released her identity.
This story was originally published August 1, 2022 at 8:16 AM.
