BY ELENI HIMARAS
reporter@ltview.com
While Bee Cave Police caught a lucky break in the string of pickup truck thefts they’ve been tracking for the past couple months – it was all skill in recovering the most recent truck and making an arrest.

 Last Monday, police say they got a lead on a truck that had been stolen from the HEB parking lot when the owners reported it stolen and alerted police of the GPS tracking device they had installed.
“The Ford F-250 was the third in a series of that size truck that had been stolen here in Bee Cave over the last couple months,” Bee Cave Police Chief Rusty Pancoast said.
Investigators Ken Sidenblad and Dusty Lee initially responded to the call. According to the GPS, the truck was driven to the HEB at the corner of I-35 and William Cannon in Austin, then to a residence off of Old San Antonio Road in Travis County.
The investigators radioed Lt. Vicente Montez and Officer Carlos Castillo who drove to the location reported by the GPS.
As police approached the residence, they saw the stolen truck traveling in the opposite direction and began pursuit. Police said the driver of the stolen truck then jumped out of the vehicle, placing it in reverse to careen into the pursuing police cars. The truck scraped the left side of the police car Officer Castillo was driving and smashed into the front of an Austin Police car that was assisting Bee Cave Police. Police say they were able to get thorough descriptions of two men involved in the theft from witnesses.
Officer Castillo noticed a man matching the description of one of the suspects driving through the area where they recovered the stolen truck. Police pulled the car over and arrested David DeJesus Leja Gamez, a Mexican national residing in Travis County.
The incident is still under investigation, as police look for the second suspect and evidence to tie this theft to the previous two.
“It’s the same kind of truck they’ve been stealing from the same location, so we think there is a connection,” said Pancoast.
He thanked Austin Police for their assistance in recovering the truck.