Drone video helps Fresno police arrest pair in Dick's thefts

Fresno police are now using drones on routine retail theft calls, and a reported theft in progress at Dick’s Sporting Goods near Shaw and Valentine avenues showed how quickly that can turn into an arrest. Officers said the call came in around 2 p.m. on May 6, 2026, after store staff reported a male suspect concealing merchandise in the front of his shorts.

The suspects left in a gray Honda Pilot, but a Fresno Police Drone as First Responder unit tracked the vehicle as it headed west on Shaw Avenue and then south on Brawley Avenue. Officers stopped the Honda near Weber and Brawley avenues, where they said they found additional suspected stolen merchandise inside. Ricardo DeJuarez, 39, and Yvonne Moreno, 43, were arrested on suspicion of grand theft and the vehicle was impounded.

Police said the pair was also linked to an earlier theft at a Dick’s Sporting Goods in northeast Fresno, suggesting the case was part of a larger retail-theft pattern rather than a one-off grab. Organized Retail Theft detectives are now working to identify additional victims who may have been connected to the two suspects and the merchandise recovered from the vehicle.

The arrest highlights how Fresno police are moving drones beyond major emergencies and into everyday enforcement. Chief Mindy Casto announced the department’s Drone as First Responder program on April 16, saying the new fleet includes three American-made Skydio X-10 drones. The department had already used conventional drones since 2019, but the newer program is designed to help officers locate suspects, missing people and vehicles faster.

The Dick’s case comes as Fresno and state leaders have pushed a broader crackdown on theft. Proposition 36 took effect statewide on Dec. 18, 2024, increasing felony exposure for some repeat theft offenders. Fresno officials have said that retail theft reductions are beginning to show up while arrests rise, and in one recent seven-month period county prosecutors reviewed 335 potential felony theft cases, with 287 resulting in formal charges. City and county leaders have also tied the effort to the Fresno Metropolitan Area Organized Retail Task Force, a multi-agency team built with state grant funding.