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Deputies arrest theft suspect in ‘crime spree’ in formerly evacuated South Lake Tahoe

El Dorado County sheriff’s deputies arrested a man suspected of committing dozens of thefts from vehicles, garages and homes in former Caldor Fire evacuation zones after residents returned to South Lake Tahoe.

Joseph Donald Dykes, 37, initially was arrested on suspicion of violating probation. Dykes now faces additional charges of theft, grand theft, possessing stolen property, and theft during a state of emergency, the El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office announced in a news release.

Sheriff’s officials said Dykes stole numerous items including two vehicles. Investigators have recovered “tens of thousands of dollars in stolen property,” including a sport utility vehicle and a motorcycle, according to the news release.

Officers from law enforcement agencies have been patrolling evacuation zones as part of the state’s mutual aid program. The Sheriff’s Office said members of the Caldor Fire law enforcement security team worked with sheriff’s patrol deputies over several days to “catch a looter” responsible for the recent thefts in the South Lake Tahoe area.

El Dorado County sheriff’s deputies have recovered numerous items stolen from vehicles, garages and homes in former Caldor Fire evacuation zones in South Lake Tahoe, California.
El Dorado County sheriff’s deputies have recovered numerous items stolen from vehicles, garages and homes in former Caldor Fire evacuation zones in South Lake Tahoe, California.

The sheriff’s deputies “disrupted the suspect during an early-morning crime spree” on Friday, sheriff’s officials said. The suspect, later identified as Dykes, was captured while trying to leave a neighborhood in the Pioneer Trail corridor. None of these thefts occurred while these areas were evacuated.

“It appears once evacuation zones were repopulated, Dykes began his spree,” sheriff’s officials said in the news release.

Investigators spent days chasing investigative leads and conducting probation searches, recovering numerous stolen items in the process.

The Sheriff’s Office has returned a significant amount of stolen property to its owners, but there is still a lot of unclaimed property whose owners have not been identified. The Sheriff’s Office also is receiving reports of found property in neighborhoods where the thefts occurred, and deputies have not yet found other numerous items that were stolen.

Investigators ask anyone who discovers items hidden or anyone who was a victim of theft or is missing property stolen last week in the South Lake Tahoe area to call Deputy Earl at 530-663-3364 or send him an email at earlc@edso.org EDSO.