Dec. 20--Dressed in a not-so-clever disguise, the second suspect in a forklift theft was arrested Monday morning by Stanislaus County sheriff's deputies.
Irvin Leroy Turpitt, 51, of Waterford is one of two men suspected in the theft of a 50,000-pound forklift and an air compressor from Brown Sheet Metal & Mechanical in Oakdale.
Two witnesses spotted the thieves leaving the business with the equipment Sunday morning and followed them on a low-speed pursuit for 10 miles toward Modesto.
Modesto police caught up with the forklift on Garst Road near Wellsford Road, where the driver fled into an orchard.
Jerry DePalma, 48, of Waterford soon was apprehended and arrested on suspicion of auto theft, possession of stolen property and resisting arrest.
The man towing the air compressor escaped. Police identified him as Turpitt.
Monday, a woman spotted Turpitt on her property on Jantzen Road between Hughson and Waterford, said sheriff's Sgt. Anthony Bejaran.
She called 911 around the same time a farmer in the area told detectives he had evidence Turpitt had stolen an air compressor.
When deputies arrived, Turpitt was about a half-mile away near the Pinewood Meadows Mobile Home Park, Bejaran said.
Turpitt, wearing a long blond wig and sunglasses, ran south through the park into a vineyard owned by E.&J. Gallo. He jumped into the nearby Tuolumne River, but the frigid water eventually forced him out, Bejaran said. He lost his glasses and wig in the process.
Security guards at the vineyard handcuffed Tur-pitt and turned him over to sheriff's deputies. He was arrested on suspicion of vehicle theft, grand theft, possession of stolen property and committing a felony while on bail.
Bejaran said Turpitt and DePalma are being investigated for a number of thefts in the rural area of eastern Stanislaus County.
Bee staff writer Erin Tracy can be reached at [email protected] or (209) 578-2366.
Copyright 2011 - The Modesto Bee, Calif.
