On October 18, 2018 at about 7:00 am, the Merced County Sheriff’s Office Patrol Bureau and the Supervised Release Team (SRT) went to the 700 Block of Green Sands Avenue in Atwater in an attempt to locate one of Merced County’s Most Wanted, 46 year old Joseph Gonzalez.
When the Sheriff’s Office pulled up to the residence, Gonzalez took off running and led deputies on a chase through the neighborhood jumping over several fences. Deputies lost sight of Gonzalez for a short period of time. However, after a yard to yard search Sergeant Ray Framstad and Sergeant Kevin Blake were able to chase Gonzalez down and deploy their tasers to take him into custody.
Gonzalez was wanted for multiple felony charges, including rape, kidnapping, domestic violence, and parole violation. He has been on the run for several months and has escaped capture multiple times.
