April 12, 2022 – Merced – On April 11, 2022, Merced Police Detectives arrested Israel Garcia for numerous felony charges. Garcia works as a police officer for the UC Merced Police Department. The confidential victim, an ex-girlfriend of Garcia, reported Garcia had been stalking her since their relationship ended last month and he had physically and sexually assaulted her.

During the investigation, a GPS tracking device was located hidden inside the victim’s vehicle. Detectives believe Garcia placed and used the device to track the victim’s movements.

Garcia was booked in Merced County Jail for domestic violence, stalking, false imprisonment, sexual assault, and unlawful use of an electronic tracking device to locate or track a person.

Case Number: 22-21278

Merced Police are asking anyone with any information regarding this crime to contact Detective Gorman at 209-385-7715 or by email at Gormana@cityofmerced.org.

Other ways to contact us or report crime include:

For any emergency call or text 911

For non-emergency call 209-385-6912

Anonymous Tip Line (Non-emergency) call 209-385-4725

Anonymous Tips online at http://www.mercedareacrimestoppers.org/index.html.

Some crimes can be reported online through the Merced PD website https://www.cityofmerced.org/departments/police.

Source: Merced Police Department