Facebook Post Over Suspicious Van In Arden Arcade Leads To Arrest, But No Sex Offenders Found
ARDEN ARCADE (CBS13) – A social media post that went viral about a suspicious van led to the arrest of a man, but not for the reason many were worried about.
The Sacramento County Sheriff's Department says they were contacted on Tuesday about a suspicious man driving a brown van in a neighborhood. A concerned citizen who also spotted the van posted on Facebook that the van allegedly belonged to a registered sex offender.
Deputies say the post was shared more than 20,000 times.
Later in the day, deputies got a report that the van was parked along the 2500 block of Arden Way. Deputies responded, found the van and contacted the two people inside.
One of the people inside, 57-year-old Sacramento resident Eugene Melady, was found to be on probation out of Kern County. A friend of Melady, a 57-year-old woman, was also found inside the van.
Neither Melady nor the woman are registered sex offenders, deputies note.
Melady was arrested after a probation search of the van uncovered hypodermic needles indicative of illicit drug use. The woman was released.
The van has been towed from the scene.