{"id":295536,"date":"2026-05-01T20:58:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-01T20:58:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/295536\/"},"modified":"2026-05-01T20:58:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-01T20:58:13","slug":"man-arrested-after-two-separate-tractor-thefts-and-brush-fire-in-fresno-co","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/295536\/","title":{"rendered":"Man arrested after two separate tractor thefts and brush fire in Fresno Co"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>FRESNO COUNTY, Calif. (FOX26) \u2014 A man was arrested after two separate tractor thefts and a brush fire on Wednesday in Fresno County.<\/p>\n<p>The Fresno County Sheriff&#8217;s Office says detectives with the Ag Task Force were investigating the theft of a stolen tractor that is used for harvesting hay near Riverdale and Walnut Avenues in Riverdale. <\/p>\n<p>Detectives were able to find the tractor abandoned less than three miles away near Harlan and Marks Avenues, but while investigating the scene they found out a Caterpillar 950H Wheel Loader had been stolen from that property.<\/p>\n<p>Detectives followed tire tracks that were leading west towards Chateau Fresno Avenue.<\/p>\n<p>While searching, 911 calls started coming in of a brush fire in the same area near Chateau Fresno and Mount Whitney Avenues. <\/p>\n<p>[REALATED] <a href=\"https:\/\/kmph.com\/news\/local\/visalia-woman-arrested-in-animal-cruelty-case-after-illegal-procedures-lead-to-death\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Visalia woman arrested in animal cruelty case after illegal procedures lead to death<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Detectives, patrol deputies and firefighters with Cal Fire\/Fresno County Fire all responded and found 29-year-old Austin Medford of Riverdale with the Caterpillar Wheel Loader. <\/p>\n<p>Firefighters also found evidence that showed Medford had lit dry grass on fire on purpose. <\/p>\n<p>Fire fighters had to use multiple fire trucks and a bulldozer to extinguish the fire. <\/p>\n<p>Nobody was injured and no structures were damaged by the fire. <\/p>\n<p>Medford was arrested for arson, as well as the theft of the two tractors, which are valued at a total of $180,000. <\/p>\n<p>If you have additional information about Austin Medford, you can contact the Sheriff\u2019s Office at (559) 600-3111. <\/p>\n<p>Tips may also be submitted to Valley Crime Stoppers at (559) 498-7867 or online at www.valleycrimestoppers.org <\/p>\n<p>You will remain anonymous and may be eligible for a cash reward. <\/p>\n<p>Reference case #26-4923<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FRESNO COUNTY, Calif. (FOX26) \u2014 A man was arrested after two separate tractor thefts and a brush fire&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":295537,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[112,114,113],"class_list":["post-295536","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fresno","tag-fresno","tag-fresno-headlines","tag-fresno-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295536","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=295536"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295536\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/295537"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=295536"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=295536"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=295536"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}