Prisoner Tried to Steal Truck on Day of Release, Police Say

On his way home the day he was released from an 11-month prison sentence, Juan Luna tried to steal a pickup truck and fled after a scuffle with the owner, authorities said Wednesday. Only, they added, he left behind his prison release papers giving his name and address.

Now Luna is facing a swift return to prison.

“He can’t be too smart,” said Los Angeles Sheriff’s Det. John Mundell.

Luna, of Highland Park, was on his way home from Avenal State Prison near Bakersfield on April 15, riding in a public bus when he got into a fistfight over his seat with one of the two other parolees on board. He told sheriff’s deputies that none of the ex-inmates knew one another.

The bus stopped on the southbound Golden State Freeway near Lebec, where Kern County deputies arrested the other parolee and Luna was taken off the bus, Mundell said.

The deputies dropped off Luna at the Flying J gas station in Lebec about 9:30 p.m. so he could call friends for a ride home.

Instead, Luna spotted a 1988 Chevrolet double rear-axle pickup truck, Mundell said, but realized he had no tools. So he bought a screwdriver and a small flashlight at the station’s mini-mart.

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Luna had broken the rear passenger door’s window and was working on the ignition when the owner found the inmate in the driver’s seat, Mundell said, and a scuffle ensued.

Luna fled, but not before dropping all his personal belongings--letters from friends and relatives, a photo album, and his prison release forms, complete with his name and address, Mundell said.

Sheriff’s deputies arrested Luna on Monday as he checked in at a Van Nuys parole office. He was arraigned Wednesday afternoon in Newhall Municipal Court where he pleaded not guilty to one count of burglary, authorities said. He remains jailed on a parole violation.

“He had the opportunity to do the right thing,” Mundell said. “He had the money and the telephone to call his friends to pick him up, but he chose to do the wrong thing.”