The countywide search for a potentially armed and dangerous suspect ended early Thursday morning with a rural vehicle stop, Yolo County sheriff’s officials said.
Mario Lopez, 23, was a passenger in a car that was pulled over at about 12:30 a.m. in the town of Madison. He was taken into custody and lodged at the Yolo County Jail, where he is being held in lieu of $815,000 bail, sheriff’s Capt. Larry Cecchettini said.
Authorities had been on the lookout for Lopez since late January, when he was identified as a member of an alleged burglary ring in Woodland. Police there arrested six other people during a search-warrant sweep, but Lopez eluded capture.
He reportedly attempted to turn himself in about two weeks ago at the Yolo County Jail, but left the facility following an extensive wait to be booked.
Authorities continued the search for Lopez, developing a task force that comprised members of the Yolo County Sheriff’s ag theft unit, the Woodland and Davis police departments, the Yolo Narcotics Enforcement Team and the California Highway Patrol, Cecchettini said.
It was members of the ag theft unit that took Lopez into custody, lodging him at the Yolo County Jail on five outstanding warrants as well as new charges including burglary, conspiracy, possession of methamphetamine, committing felonies while on bail and violation of probation. Cecchettini said Lopez also was found to be in possession of methamphetamine during the jail booking process.
The warrants charge Lopez with various crimes including burglary, possession of stolen property, narcotics and weapons violations and child endangerment.