When Lathrop Police officers were notified on Tuesday that there was a stolen vehicle driving around the community, it wouldn’t take them very long to find it – it was a U-Haul box truck.

After saturating the area where the truck was identified, officers discovered it leaving Lathrop and heading into Manteca – where the driver was ultimately stopped. The Manteca Police Department aided in the response.

The driver, who was not identified by law enforcement, was taken into custody and booked into the San Joaquin County Jail on multiple charges and outstanding warrants.

According to the California Highway patrol, nearly 181,000 vehicles were reported stolen in California in 2020 – with over 52 percent of those occurring in Southern California, and over 42 percent of those in Los Angeles County. Only 12.4 percent of all vehicles reported stolen in 2020 were in the Central Valley – comprised of Kern, Fresno, Tulare, Merced, Madera, Kings, Stanislaus, and San Joaquin Counties – and more than a third of those thefts occurred in Kern County.

The Honda Civic remains the most stolen car in California – it occupied the top automobile spots for the 1998, 1999, and 2000 model years – while the 2000 Honda CRV, 2001 Chevrolet Silverado, and the 2002 Chevrolet Silverado were the most stolen trucks or sport utility vehicles across the state.

To contact Bulletin reporter Jason Campbell email jcampbell@mantecabulletin.com or call 209.249.3544.