Two Ceres residents were arrested Saturday afternoon after they were discovered in a stolen vehicle as they were apparently on their way to an orchard to dump trash.

At 5 p.m., Ceres Police Officer Eric Souza was patrolling the area of Lucas and Joseph roads when he saw a white Chevrolet Silverado driving through an orchard with a large amount of trash in the bed of the pickup. Knowing the area has been a frequent illegal trash dump site, Officer Souza watched the Silverado as it parked next to a white-colored Chevrolet G30 box truck also in the orchard. Officer Souza immediately recognized the box truck as a stolen vehicle that was reported the week prior.

Officer Souza drove into the orchard and made contact with the two occupants of the Silverado: Carl Stevens, 31 and Jessica Collins, 46, both of Ceres. Officer Souza found a Washington license plate attached to the Silverado but a records check indicated that the plate didn’t match the truck, which was also reported as stolen. While searching the interior of the Silverado, Officer Souza located a lock-picking kit along with two additional license plates not belonging to the truck.

Collins was arrested and charged with possession of a stolen vehicle while Stevens was arrested for auto theft, possession of a stolen vehicle and possession of burglary tools.

Both were booked into the Stanislaus County Public Safety Center.