BUENA PARK : Model T Seized, 3 Arrested in Raids

Authorities have confiscated four stolen vehicles, including a mint-condition Model T Ford, and arrested three men on suspicion of operating a car theft ring out of an industrial park, police said.

The first arrest occurred Tuesday night when a Buena Park police officer saw a 1977 Pontiac Trans Am pulling an enclosed trailer emerge from a warehouse area near Orangethorpe and Western avenues, Sgt. Terry Branum said.

The officer stopped the car because it had been reported stolen, and a passenger fled on foot, Branum said. The car’s driver, identified as Todd Allen Wilkinson, 22, of Corona, was arrested on suspicion of possession of stolen property. Police are still seeking the passenger who escaped.

Police said the trailer also had been reported stolen. After searching the warehouse area, police found two more stolen vehicles, one of which had been stripped for parts.

Continuing their investigation on Wednesday, police found another stolen vehicle parked near a house in the 6400 block of Western Avenue, in a nearby residential area. The Model T was found in the back yard of the house.

Michael Armond Omara, 21, of Buena Park and Russell Raymond Schinkle, 24, of La Habra were arrested on suspicion of possession of stolen property. Omara, who had a small handgun and a small amount of what was believed to be narcotics, also was booked at Orange County Jail on drug and weapons charges, Branum said.