May 10, 2022 - Merced – On May 9, 2022, Merced Police Detective Christian Lupian was following up on a theft case from the previous day. Lekxai Soulanone, Erick Vasquez, and Brayan Vazquez were the suspects in the case. All three were arrested and booked into the Merced County Jail.

Detective Lupian’s investigation led him to Fat Cat Recycling at 371 S. Hwy 59 in Merced where he located Erick Vasquez. Erick was just released from the Merced County Jail a few hours prior and was trying to sell several catalytic converters, so he could replenish the money he spent on bail.

Detective Lupian believed the catalytic converters may have been stolen from the Merced County Corporate Yard where Erick was arrested yesterday. The saw marks on the catalytic converters were compared to the vehicles they were stolen from. All the catalytic converters were a match and returned to county employees.

Erick Vasquez was arrested for possession of stolen property and committing a crime while out on bail. Erick was booked back into the Merced County Jail.

Merced Police are asking anyone with any information regarding this incident to contact Detective Christian Lupian at (209) 385-7844 or by email at lupianc@cityofmerced.org.

Case Number: 22-27546

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 & photo: Merced Police Department