Man Gets Prison for Forgery, Auto Theft

A Hanford man convicted of passing bad checks and stealing an unmarked Ventura police car was sentenced to three years and eight months in prison Friday.

Hannie Eugene Rice, 39, of Hanford, near Fresno, plead guilty last month to auto theft and forgery charges stemming from a high-speed chase involving a stolen undercover police car.

Rice’s 19-year-old son, Justin Eugene Rice, was also involved in the incident and faces similar charges. Both men pleaded not guilty in July but changed their pleas to guilty on Aug. 9. Justin Eugene Rice has not been sentenced.

Ventura police arrested the father and son July 22 after receiving a call from a Ventura restaurant employee about two people who tried to pay their bill with a bad check.

Police saw the cream-colored Volkswagen van the men were driving and chased them. But the men quickly ditched the vehicle. Authorities said they later learned that the van, which had Utah plates, had been stolen.

Police chased the two men on foot through an orchard and caught Justin Rice.

But the father was not apprehended until after he had taken an unmarked police car left at the scene with its keys in the ignition.

Police followed the patrol car for two miles before they found the deserted vehicle.

Police caught Hannie Rice, who had been out of prison on parole for a week, in the backyard of a house on Owens Avenue in eastern Ventura.