Driver Surrenders After Stolen Box Truck Pursuit

A brazen thief led police on a 60-mile, slow-speed pursuit Monday in a stolen moving truck filled with old junk to be recycled before police spike strips punctured the tires and the driver surrendered peacefully.

The pursuit began on a report of a stolen Budget truck at Sheldon Street and San Fernando Road in Sun Valley, police said. It ended on a freeway transition road near Fontana.

The truck was rented Friday from Budget rentals.

Sharon Pereida said it was filled with used furniture and an old clothes dryer she got from an abandoned storage unit.

The truck was stolen when she had gone to Sun Valley Paper Stock to recycle a load of paper. When she went inside to get her money, the thief took off with the truck. An employee of the recycling company jumped into a car, tried to chase him and reported to police the truck's location.

"I come to the door and Marco, my son, goes running and says, 'They stole our truck,'" she said. "I said, 'No! Never, ever leave your keys, even for a half minute.'

"Luckily nobody lost their life and everything was replaceable."

Pereida said her assistant left her cellphone in the truck — and the thief called her from that cellphone twice but never spoke. Finally he threw the phone out the window.

When he finally made his way onto the northbound 15 near Fontana, the CHP used a spike strip to flatten the truck's tires. He surrendered when police approached the truck with guns drawn and a police dog on a leash.

Pereida said she doesn't care about the belongings inside the truck and is mostly unhappy her assistant lost her cellphone.

The thief, who has not been identified, is behind bars facing a felony evading charge.

Asher Klein contributed to this report.

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