Dax Michael Arredondo, 39, of Patterson, was convicted May 3 of carjacking, robbery and assault on a police officer and was sentenced to the maximum penalty of 10 years in prison by Judge Thomas Zeff.
Arredondo had been out of prison less than a week when he stole a car out of a local resident’s garage and later rammed a police car during a pursuit that landed him in jail, according to Stanislaus County District Attorney Birgit Fladager. He had been convicted of auto theft and possession of methamphetamine in February 2008.
At about 7 a.m. Aug. 10, 2010, Arredondo tried to take a green Nissan Altima from a Hannah Drive resident who was sitting in her car getting ready to leave for work, according to a report from Fladager’s office.
Arredondo pulled the woman from the car, got in and began looking for keys. The woman ran for safety. When he could not find the keys, Arredondo ran to another house, where a man was leaving the home with his family. After Arredondo demanded that car, the man and his relatives went back into their house and called 911.
Arredondo then found yet another car that was running in an open garage, a 2007 white Honda Civic with no one in it. When the owner found the carjacker and tried to stop him, Arredondo pushed the man into a lawn chair and drove off. Nearly an hour later, Patterson Police Services deputies spotted Arredondo in the stolen Civic and tried to stop him near East Las Palmas and Sycamore avenues.
Arredondo didn’t stop and led his pursuers 30 miles, into Merced County, before he made a U-turn and rammed one of the police cars, causing minor damage. Arredondo later admitted he had been on a “meth binge” since he was released from prison Aug. 4.
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