January 5, 2024 - Fresno County Sheriff's Office officials report that detectives with the Fresno County Sheriff’s Ag Task Force (ATF) have arrested 63-year-old Jerald Ross of Fresno. He has been booked into the Fresno County Jail on a felony charge of grand theft of copper materials. His bail is set at $92,500. He is due in court on January 10th.
In mid-December, someone stole more than $100,000 in copper wire from a solar panel farm located near S. Jefferson and E. Chestnut Avenues in Fresno. These 9,000 solar panels, which went online in March of 2022, provide a majority of the electricity to the nearby Fresno County Juvenile Justice Campus. The damages to the solar farm may total up to $2.8 million. Detectives immediately began an investigation to try and identify a suspect.
On Friday, December 29th, a local recycling center made a report to the Sheriff’s Office of a suspicious transaction request. A man, later identified as Jerald Ross, was attempting to recycle an unusually large amount of shiny copper wire. Detectives responded to the yard, examined the wire and determined it was stolen, but not from the solar farm. However, based on evidence gathered during the investigation, detectives determined Ross was the person responsible of stripping wire from the solar panels. That wire, amounting to hundreds of pounds, has not been recovered.
Detectives also identified 33-year-old Connie Rincon of Fresno as a person working with Ross to commit thefts at the solar farm. She was arrested on misdemeanor charges of trespassing and possession of burglary tools.
Although arrests have been made in this case, if you have additional information that can aid this investigation, please contact the Sheriff’s Office at (559) 600-3111 or Crime Stoppers at (559) 498-7867, www.valleycrimestoppers.org. You will remain anonymous and may be eligible for a cash reward. Reference case # 23-14914.
Source & photos: Fresno County Sheriff's Office
