Suspects wanted in connection to series of ag equipment burglaries across the South Valley

TULARE COUNTY, Calif. (KFSN) -- Tulare County sheriff's investigators are closing in on the two men wanted in connection to a string of burglaries in the South Valley.

Within the last three months, there have been several ag equipment related burglaries in Reedley, New London, south Kingsburg, and north Visalia.

"Its ATVs, motorcycles, tools are all things that were stolen from our victims in Tulare County, and those things are all worth different amounts of money," said Sgt. Bobby Rader.

Based on evidence left behind at each burglary, detectives have identified 23-year-old Cody Bierman and 50-year-old Ralph James as their primary suspects. But the search for them continues.

'There's a severe amount of damage done in their attempt to access the property their stealing," Rader said.

Detectives say with industrial sized equipment being stolen thieves used the sparsely populated ag communities to their advantage -- adding insult to injury.

Sheriff's detectives say the suspects even used the victims own property to commit the crimes.

"Several of these cases the suspects actually used tractors on scene to break open different buildings," Rader said.

The Sheriff's Fugitive Apprehension Team were investigating a separate case where they found stolen property from some of the burglaries in a storage shed leading them to even more recovered property.

"Two stolen quads from the Fresno County area were recovered, returned to victims and one stolen dirtbike form one of our cases," Rader said.

There was also an engine and transmission they believe came from a stolen truck.

Sheriffs detectives are warning property owners to invest in surveillance and security cameras. They say they can be expensive but its a small investment for security.