Three men arrested with stolen guns

Two suspects are sitting in the Madera County Jail for possession of allegedly stolen guns after three separate arrests by the Madera Police Department, all of which took place in the span of a single day.

According to Madera Police Sgt. Josiah Arnold, the trio of arrests started Thursday when the Special Investigations Unit executed a search warrant on a residence in Biola regarding a stolen gun. The search led to the arrest of Carlos Quiroz, 38.

“When we hit the house with the search warrant, he opened the window, and threw the gun out a window in the back,” Arnold said. “But it was an open window and a gun right below it, so it wasn’t hard for us to figure it out.”

The handgun, Arnold stated is believed to have been stolen, though it was not the firearm that they were looking for. Police also reportedly found body armor in the residence. After the arrest, Quiroz was turned over to Fresno County officials.

The second arrest of the day, which took place later that evening, occurred when patrol officers made a stop on Jason Cervantes, 45, outside of a Jack in the Box restaurant on Cleveland Avenue and Gateway Drive.

“He fled from the car,” Arnold said. “He threw a gun while he was running. We were able to catch him a pretty short distance away.”

Cervantes, who was on parole, was also reportedly found to have nearly an ounce of methamphetamine in his possession for sale. The gun, according to Arnold, is also believed to have been stolen.

The Special Investigations Unit made the final arrest the next day, when they were called to investigate a dispute in Parkwood, which led to the capture of Julian Rueda, 26, who was reportedly found to be in violation of his probation. In addition to possession of a firearm, Rueda has also been charged with domestic abuse in the matter.

All three arrests, Arnold stated were unrelated.

“They were unrelated,” Arnold said. “And that’s sort of what makes them important to us is that these are three guys, completely unrelated, all three are gang members, all three are felons who shouldn’t have guns, all three were armed with handguns that were loaded. It’s dangerous for law enforcement because we’re out contacting these guys like that.”