Kings Rural Task Force solves theft of chain-link fence from Hanford business

 According to sheriff’s department deputies, surveillance footage from the day prior showed a male subject looking around (casing) the area, but he left without taking anything. The male returned later in the day riding a motorized mini-bike and cut the metal wiring holding the fence panels together.

 He left a second time without taking anything. The male suspect was later identified as 39-year-old Gerald Hudson of Hanford.

 Once darkness arrived, the suspect, Hudson, returned a third time, took the fence panels down, and placed them into a pile. Moments later, a pickup truck arrived and parked alongside the panels. Deputies say the suspect, along with two other males, loaded the panels into the bed of the truck and left.

 As the investigation unfolded, the stolen fence panels were located at a homeless encampment near Third Street and 10th Avenue. The panels were being used to surround a tent, and the suspects had tarps connected to them. The suspect, Hudson, was located inside the tent, and deputies matched him with the subject viewed in a surveillance video. Deputies arrested him.  

During a subsequent interview, the suspect, Hudson, confessed to taking the panels and hiring two other unknown males to transport them to his tent.

Deputies booked Hudson into the Kings County Jail on the charges of grand theft and possession of the stolen property. Bail was set at $10,000. Due to additional cases, his bail was increased to $100,000.