The Manteca Police Department recovered more than just the stolen merchandise off a shoplifting suspect on Wednesday in the parking lot of Kohl’s.

The haul? A stolen semiautomatic handgun.

After being dispatched to the store on Daniels Avenue for a report of a shoplifting in progress, police were directed to 34-year-old Lodi resident Bryan Ash, who was detained without incident along with his accomplice – 37-year-old Timothy Fick of Stockton.

When officers learned that Fick’s vehicle was in the parking lot, they noticed that the registration was overdue by at least six months and the paperwork to tow it. When conducting an inventory check of the vehicle – which is customary for vehicles that are being taken into custody – they found a loaded Smith and Wesson .40 caliber handgun that turned out to be stolen out of Stockton.

Fick was taken into custody for possession of a stolen firearm and was booked into the San Joaquin County Jail and held on $55,000 bail. He was not listed as in custody on the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office website as of Thursday night, and was preliminary scheduled to appear in the Manteca branch of the San Joaquin County Superior Court on Friday.

The arrest was a testament to the agency’s ongoing collaboration between retailers and law enforcement tasked with preventing organized retail theft. The recovery of a stolen firearm is also something that the Manteca Police have become familiar with in 2022 – through the first three months of this year, officers were taken a stolen or illegal gun off the street every other day.

To contact Bulletin reporter Jason Campbell email jcampbell@mantecabulletin.com or call 209.249.3544.