FRESNO, Calif. (KMPH) -
Dave Clark had seen the man who ended up in his attic before.
"I didn't know what was going on here. He and his wife come by here every so often to borrow the phone because they told me that they can't pay the bill or something," Clark said.
But on Wednesday morning, that man needed to borrow a lot more than the phone.
"He jumped the fence and came through the back door," Clark said.
He's 27-year-old David Sanchez; wanted for domestic violence and recently released from jail through the state's re-alignment program.
Police say they'd received a tip that Sanchez was in the neighborhood. When they got there, he ran off. That's when Clark says he ran into his home and ended up in the attic.
"At one point, we put the K9 up near the attic opening. The dog barked. And at that time, David decided it would be better to make himself known to officers and surrender," Lieutenant Burke Farrah, Fresno Police Department, said.
But Sanchez is just one of about 1,000 criminals released from Fresno County's jail in the last six months as part of re-alignment.
So to watch over those guys once they hit the streets, the county came up with the "Adult Compliance Team" or ACT; made up of people from multiple agencies around the county.
"There may be individuals they take directly to jail and leave there. There may be other people they return to a drug treatment program. But it is a creative way of addressing this new population," Chief Probation Officer Linda Penner said.
"What this team does is evaluate if there are other things that can happen to this person. And also the pre-emptive action, like knocking on the door and saying we're here to watch you," Fresno County Sheriff Margaret Mims said.
Penner says what makes this team work is the ability to respond fast.
"With the probation officer that would be assigned to that caseload, if they come upon a problem or a family member calls and says things aren't going well, they'll be out there within minutes," she said.
It's exactly what happened with David Sanchez, who, for now, sits in the Fresno County Jail.
The Adult Compliance Team is made up of two probation officers, one Fresno County sergeant, one Fresno police officer, one Clovis police officer and one investigator with the district attorney's office.
Officers were hired to replace those now working on the new team.
