May 8, 2023 - Amador County Sheriff's Office officials report that on the afternoon of May 7th, 2023, Sheriffs Dispatch received a report of a suspicious vehicle parked off the roadway on Hwy 124 south of the city of Ione. The vehicle was located in the same area where AT&T was working to fix a service interruption caused by someone cutting fiber optic cable and utility lines. When Sheriff's Deputies and CHP arrived on scene, they were advised that three male subjects fled from the area of the vehicle into the woods south of the location. The vehicle was determined to have expired registration and the decision to tow the vehicle was made. During an inventory search, drug paraphernalia along with evidence of copper wire theft was located in and around the vehicle. The interior vehicle was found to contain a pole saw and copious amounts of stripped copper wire. Near the vehicle, a freshly cut length of service wire was found bundled up and being drug toward the vehicle when the trio were interrupted by AT&T workers.
While processing the vehicle, a single male subject exited from the tree line and approached Deputies with his hands up. He admitted he was the owner of the vehicle and that he had left it because it would not start. Upon detaining the first suspect, Deputies and CHP Officers followed three sets of footprints down a dirt access road to the southwest of the vehicle. About a quarter mile down the road, an area was located where the subjects appeared to have moved into a marshy area along the Hwy. As Deputies continued to track the subjects through the marshy area, we observed two additional male adults pop out onto Hwy 124 below our location. The pair were encircled and detained. Both were determined to be associated with the suspicious vehicle. All three subjects were covered in mud and sticks as though having been in the brush for a lengthy period of time.
The suspects were identified as Elpidio Rivera (11-12-1980), Joel Riveravilla (09-01-1997) and Hialario Lopez (07-11-1987) of Stockton. All three were taken into custody on numerous charges associated with utilities theft, interfering with power lines, damaging utility lines, conspiracy, and possession of controlled substance.
Source & photos: Amador County Sheriff's Office
