Owner Finds Missing Truck, Joins Police Chase to Stop It

A plumber who spotted his own missing truck on Tuesday joined police in a chase that ended in the arrest of his former employee and another man.

Roger Holmes, owner of Network Rooter and Plumbing in Fountain Valley, said one of his employees had been missing with the truck, which had $22,000 worth of equipment inside, since Saturday.

“I reported the truck stolen on Monday, and since I knew the police were real busy, I decided to look for it myself,” Holmes said. “And I found it.”

Holmes, 38, spotted the truck being driven on Harbor Boulevard near the Riverside Freeway.

After following it for 45 minutes on his motorcycle, Holmes said he finally asked the driver and his passenger to pull over at a nearby gas station.

“I said I wanted my truck back,” Holmes said. “When we were at the gas station, I called my wife, told her where I was, and asked her to call the police.”

But when police arrived, the two men drove off and led police on 21-minute chase on freeways and surface streets that covered 24 miles and reached speeds of 75 m.p.h., police said.

The chase, which involved about a dozen patrol cars and a police helicopter, ended when the truck crashed into a trash dumpster and pole at Magnolia Avenue and Orangethorpe Street in Fullerton, police said.

The driver, Ronald Eugene Jewell, 33, of Garden Grove, suffered minor injuries. Police said he tried to escape but was arrested. He was treated for injuries at Western Medical Center-Anaheim then taken to Anaheim Jail. He is being held on suspicion of driving under the influence of drugs, auto theft, grand theft auto and possession of stolen property, police said.

David Wayne Julian, 35, of Garden Grove, who had worked for Holmes since January, is being held at the same jail on suspicion of auto theft, possession of stolen property and grand theft auto, police said.

Holmes, who kept up with police on his motorcycle throughout the entire chase, said, “I didn’t want to put my life in danger, but I did want my truck back.”