Fresno, Calif., (April 28, 2017) – As the seasons transition from spring to summer, the Fresno County Sheriff’s Department’s Ag Task Force (AGTF) continues to investigate thefts throughout 
Fresno County. Recently, several large pieces of equipment were reported stolen from the Mendota area, which included: Caterpillar road grader, a 2,000-gallon steel water storage tank and a John Deere hydraulic row disk. The case was assigned to AGTF Detective Michael Wynn, who located the stolen property near 29000 W. Whitesbridge Ave., in Mendota.
Detective Wynn found that the property owner/renter had bought the items off of another man for pennies on the dollar. The detective identified the man who sold the stolen equipment as David Brisco, and a short time later he was arrested and taken into custody. Detectives interviewed Brisco and learned that he posed as the owner of the stolen equipment and took the buyer onto the property to conduct a private sale. The purchaser didn’t realize he was buying stolen equipment and once he was contacted by detectives, he returned the stolen property to its original owner. He is out thousands of dollars he had paid Brisco.
As it is often said, “if the deal looks too good to be true, it probably is.” The AGTF reminds you to be appropriately suspicious of subjects selling items either in person or online where the deal appears to be too good to be true.
Anyone with information regarding subjects selling what may be stolen items are asked to contact the Ag Task Force at 559-600-8150 or agcrimes@fresnosheriff.org. As always, we are here to serve. Please contact us if we can be of assistance.
