Shasta County’s automated license plate readers helped track a stolen vehicle, according to the Sheriff’s Office. At 12:36PM Monday afternoon the cameras spotted the pickup truck on Balls Ferry Road near Panorama Point. Deputies arrived in the area and a CHP aircraft was called to help. A short time later other cameras spotted the truck near Highway 44 and Deschutes Road. The aircraft crew spotted it heading north on Deschutes and deputies caught up and did a high risk traffic stop at gunpoint near Stone Meadows Road. The driver, 51-year-old James Warren Martinez of Cottonwood, was booked into jail. The passenger was released.
-Steve Gibson