Dolores Parada is 90 years old but uses her mini-van to get around town. When her vehicle was stolen, she thought it was gone forever. Thanks to surveillance video, detectives were able to track down the suspect and the car.
"Oh, there it is," said Parada when she saw her gold-colored Honda CRV pull up the driveway. "I'm very surprised and thankful," said Parada.
Fresno police detectives returned the car to Parada after it was stolen last week. She was shocked to see it in one piece but there was one thing missing. "They took my dog's little chair out of there. I'll have to buy her a new one," said Parada.
Parada is just thankful her four-legged friend, Julia -- who she takes with everywhere -- was not inside the car when it was stolen. "I think she's just as shaken up as she was the day it was stolen. She was just shaking at the store," said Richard Parada, the victim's son.
The ordeal happened in broad daylight last Wednesday while Parada was at the Save-mart supermarket on Bullard and First in Northeast Fresno. The surveillance video from the store shows a man in a white hoodie following Parada inside. "As I reached to get whatever I was buying, I turned around, the purse wasn't there. It was just gone," said Parada.
The suspect then takes the keys and drives away in the victim's car. That surveillance video helped detectives track down the suspect -- 33-year-old Henry Sahagun -- who was arrested Thursday morning along with two others involved in several auto thefts. "Detectives showed the video to suspect's parole agent who immediately identified him and said, 'yes, that's my parole,'" said Lt. Burke Farrah, with the Fresno Police Department.
Now as for the 90-year-old victim, she's just glad to have the keys back in her hands and is ready to take a drive. "Because I'm not just going to sit around. I mean I have things to do," said Parada. She said the car's discovery was great timing since she was planning on going car shopping the next day.
Sahagun is facing a total of 6 felony charges, including auto theft, burglary and elder abuse.
