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OnStar tracking system foils auto burglar
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Picking up a set of SUV keys at a Ripon drug store and driving out of the parking lot with a customer’s vehicle was a big mistake as its OnStar tracking system was activated last Friday.

It was shortly before 8 p.m. when a customer was shopping at the store in the Town Square Shopping Center and called police after seeing her 2008 GMC Acadia being driven out onto West Main Street.  She immediately called Ripon police officers who in turn contacted OnStar to track the vehicle that ended up in Manteca.

Ripon First Sergeant Steve Merchant said Manteca police officers assisted in locating the SUV and its driver that had crashed into a fence on Wawona Street on the south side of the city.  Officers arrested Edwin Rahim Moreno, Jr., 38, of Manteca booking him into San Joaquin County Jail on a felony vehicle theft charge, police said.

“The victim’s quick call, witness cooperation, the assistance of CVS Pharmacy and OnStar personnel, along with some good old-fashioned police work, were the keys to solving this case,” Merchant said.