Marcus Garcia

Imagine you’re a sheriff’s deputy and you spot a suspicious character running around your own Stevenson Ranch neighborhood wearing an L.A. County blue jail jumpsuit.

You catch the guy and he tries to convince you he didn’t just break out of jail.

Yeah, rrrright.

Well, after checking with the folks at Pitchess in Castaic and going through the inmate records, it turns out the guy was telling the truth: He stole the jumpsuit when he was released from jail.

This actually happened Tuesday afternoon around 3:30 p.m.

Lt. Tom Bryski of the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station said the suspect had been released Monday night from Men’s Central Jail in Los Angeles and wound up in Stevenson Ranch, where he was detained by an off-duty sheriff’s deputy on The Old Road.

Bryski identified the suspect as Marcus Garcia and described him as a white male adult.

For allegedly stealing the jail jumpsuit, Garcia was arrested on a felony charge of receiving stolen property and is being held at the SCV Station.

At least he dressed the part.

LASD Press Release, 8/29/2012

Suspect: Marcus Garcia (Male / 22 years old)

Resident of Saugus, Ca.

Incident location: 25450 The Old Road, Stevenson Ranch

Classification: Possession of Stolen Property, 496(a) PC

Charge Level: Felony / Bail: $20,000

An off-duty Los Angeles County Deputy Sheriff observed an individual running through the Wal-Mart parking lot in Stevenson Ranch. The individual was wearing a blue pair of L.A. County Jail inmate jumpsuit pants. Fearing that the individual had just escaped from nearby Pitchess Detention Center, he followed and observed the individual while calling 911. At the same time, an off-duty Los Angeles County Custody Assistant made the same observation from a different part of the parking lot and followed the individual, while also calling 911.

As uniformed deputies from Santa Clarita Sheriff Station were responding, the individual ran towards a multi-unit apartment complex. Fearing that the individual would escape into the large complex, the off-duty deputy identified himself and detained the suspect at gunpoint until Santa Clarita Station Deputies arrived. The suspect was taken into custody without incident.

All Pitchess Detention Facilities were notified of the incident and were on a temporary lock-down until it was verified that the individual was not an escapee. The suspect had been released from L.A. County jail on the day before (08/27/12) and stole the jail jumpsuit pants while being released. At the time, the suspect had been serving a 180 day sentence for a felony charge of Petty Theft with Prior Convictions, 666 P.C.

The suspect was transported to Santa Clarita Station and booked on charges of Possession of Stolen Property, 496(a) PC with a bail amount of $20,000.