On May 30th, 2019, Merced Police Department Officers contacted 21-year-old Cruz Villegas at “N” and West 11th Streets.

Villegas provided his identification to the Officer, and then took off running. As he was running Villegas dropped two fully loaded handgun magazines.

A perimeter was set up, Officers located Villegas hiding in a backyard in the 600 block of West 11th Street in Merced.

Officers searched the backyard and located a Glock 26 9mm handgun and a loaded 30 round magazine a short distance away from Villegas.

Villegas is a convicted felon, prohibited from possessing any firearms.

Villegas was arrested and booked at the Merced County jail for felon in possession of a firearm and felon in possession of ammunition.

Villegas is currently on probation out of Merced County for felon in possession of a firearm and he is a validated gang member.

Merced Police are asking anyone with any information regarding this crime to contact the Merced Police Department at (209) 385-6912 or the Merced Police Department Tipster Line at (209) 385-4725.

The public can send information via anonymous text messages to police department by dialing “TIP411” (847411) and including the word “Comvip” as the “keyword” in the text message.