On the morning of October 28th, 2018, while on routine patrol, Officer Ken Lee spotted a male and female walking in the area of Cedar Ave. and Fifth St. that he recognized as possible suspects in several recent vehicle tampering cases in our city. Having already reviewed surveillance video in one of the cases, Officer Lee felt that the couple closely matched the description of the suspects he had observed. Officer Lee contacted both Daniel Flores and Amber Diane McDaniel (both adults) and confronted them with his knowledge of both of them being the same two individuals he had seen in the video. Both made spontaneous admissions to the officer resulting in both being detained for further investigation.

During a consent search of Flores’ backpack, Officer Lee located a PR-24 police baton as well as numerous tools. Flores has prior felony convictions and was subsequently arrested. He was found to also be in possession of a small amount of several controlled substances. McDaniel was found to be in possession of drug paraphernalia and a controlled substance. During further questioning subsequent to their arrests, both admitted to all of the previous vehicle tampering cases from last week stating that they were looking for change inside the vehicles because they were hungry.

Both Flores and McDaniel were booked into the Merced County Jail on drug possession charges and possession of an illegal weapon. A complaint will be forwarded to the District Attorney’s Office that will include a recommendation for charges involving the vehicle tamperings.