Luis Rodriguez, owner of GrizzAlley Bike Shop in Fresno’s Tower District, was tending to his repair shop four years ago when a police detective walked by and started asking about a stolen bike.
It was the start of a nightmare for the father of seven, he says.
The Fresno native says his store was raided and money and equipment seized. Rodriguez asked to see a search warrant, but says he was ignored. After about two hours, he says he was arrested on multiple trumped-up charges, including child endangerment and allegedly manufacturing illegal weapons.
Rodriguez was initially held in lieu of a $400,000 bond, until it was reduced following several court appearances. He spent 10 days in prison.
The case against him was eventually dismissed by the Fresno County District Attorney’s Office for lack of evidence. But Rodriguez says his reputation was destroyed because the arrest and charges were reported by the news media and shared on social media.
Rodriguez, who grew up near Roosevelt High, says the charges have put a damper on his bike business. About 15 years ago, he gave up alcohol and made bikes his full-time job, he said.
“It’s not in the news that I beat the case and it was dismissed with prejudice. They can’t come after me anymore,” the 41-year-old told The Fresno Bee. “I want my (reputation) back. Because I love building bikes.”
Luis Rodriguez looks at his bikes outside his Fresno bike shop, Grizzalley Bike Shope, on the southern edge of the Tower neighborhood.
At least two other Fresno business owners have made similar allegations in lawsuits against former detective Rey Medeles and police officer Gustavo Gutierrez and other members of the Fresno Police Department.
The two are named in three pending civil lawsuits filed by Rodriguez and two other business owners who accuse them of stealing money and expensive property from their businesses through searches, arrests and false accusations.
The Fresno Police Department declined requests for comment for this story. The city also declined a request for comment, citing the ongoing litigation.
In his suit, Rodriguez alleges that Medeles and police unnecessarily raided his business, took about $5,000 in cash and several thousand worth of tools and equipment that he still hasn’t recovered four years later. Rodriguez says police charged him with gun and drug charges for what they found in a room he rented to someone else behind his store.
Rodriguez finds it hard to talk about the arrest without getting emotional. He said a cash solution from the city could be reached, but it won’t make everything right.
“Money will bring an inventory here, but it’s not going to solve that, or my mind, or my kids pointing at the police saying, ‘Who is that? A bad guy?’ ” he said, holding back tears. “That won’t come back.”
Medeles named in several lawsuits
All three civil cases were brought under the direction of Kevin Little, a Fresno civil rights attorney. All detail allegations of theft and false accusations that were later dropped. Each case has a tentative jury trial set for later in 2026.
Chi Thanh Ngo says Medeles and the other officers took $10,000 from his business, Valley Hydroponics, on April 25, 2023. He criticized the officers, telling them he would file a lawsuit, before making a retaliatory arrest, his lawsuit alleges.
The business sells lights and other supplies for hydroponics, or growing plants without soil. Hydroponics can be used to grow cannabis indoors.
Daniel Guzman Vela, owner of Valley Battery, made similar claims in his filing. His lawsuit alleges that Medeles and Gutierrez took $1,000 from his store on June 1, 2023, because they accused him of illegally selling marijuana at his business that sells batteries and auto accessories, his lawsuit alleges.
The criminal cases against Ngo and Guzman Vela were dropped for lack of evidence, their lawsuits note.
Little said the three cases include allegations that police used excessive force in an attempt to get their clients to take plea deals rather than fight the charges. For example, police found ammunition at Ngo’s business and ended up charging him separately for each bullet found, Little said, noting that Ngo legally possessed the ammunition. As a result, his bail was initially set at $22 million, according to Little.
Medeles fired, accused of thefts from the evidence cabinet
Medeles worked in the police department’s narcotics division until he was fired last June, according to police. He was on paid administrative leave at the time of his firing after the police department discovered he had taken about $60,000 in cash through his signature from the evidence room, according to the Justice Department.
Rey Medeles, 37, a Fresno police detective fired in June, was arrested Thursday, Oct. 9, 2025, and charged with stealing money from a police evidence room.
He pleaded “not guilty” in an October arraignment to four charges, two counts each of grand larceny and fabricating false evidence, according to court records. His lawyer declined to comment in November.
Medeles is accused of taking two separate amounts of $30,000 and registering them as being returned to suspects who had the money initially seized by police, according to the Justice Department. Those alleged thefts from the evidence locker date back to May 2024 and November 2023.
Acting Police Chief Mindy Casto speaks at a press conference on Oct. 28.
Fresno police have asked the FBI to investigate to determine if the theft is a larger problem among the ranks, Chief Mindy Casto said Oct. 9 after Medeles’ arrest. She said FBI investigators found no other wrongdoing.
Little said he would pursue Medeles’ criminal case, adding that it could be the “tip of the iceberg.” He noted that the three civil cases were all filed in 2023 and 2024, well before Medeles’ arrest.
How it happened: Search and intimidation, lawsuits say
Rodriguez said Medeles and Gutierrez arrived at his Tower District business around 1 p.m., Oct. 15, 2021, and began asking him about a stolen bicycle. Rodriguez said he was arrested within about two hours.
No stolen bikes have been found, Rodriguez says.
While officers, including Medeles, raided his repair business, they took about $5,000 in cash he had on hand to run the store, according to Rodriguez. He claims the police recorded it as half as much when entering it into evidence. They also took machinery he was using to engrave and carve specialty bike parts, accusing him of using the waterjet machine to do something it is not capable of – print guns.
He said what stings the most are the child endangerment charges. The father said there were no children in his store when the officers pushed their way in, adding that he believed the officers were retaliating because he asked to see a warrant before telling them to leave.
Last June, Rodriguez saw Medeles’ arrest on the news, but says it offered him little comfort.
“It sucks that I can’t be vindicated in the public eye, but they want to sweep me under the rug,” he told The Bee. “I don’t care about the money, you know. I want my name back. That means more than anything.”