A Fresno man wanted for weeks on domestic violence-related allegations was arrested after officers patrolling the city's Southwest Policing District got a hit on his vehicle through an automated license plate reader. Lucio Godinez was booked into Fresno County Jail on suspicion of false imprisonment, dissuading a witness, and robbery, stemming from a domestic disturbance police say unfolded at a Fresno home in the early morning hours of September 13.
According to the Fresno Police Department, officers responded to a call about a physical domestic disturbance involving two victims at about 1:45 a.m. that day. Police said Godinez and one of the victims had been in a romantic relationship for 15 years, and that the incident began as a verbal argument before escalating, according to KMPH.
Police allege that when the adult victim tried to leave through the front door, “Godinez stepped in front of it and refused to let the victim leave.” The station reports that when she then tried the back door, he blocked that exit too, with officers saying he “stood in front of the back door and prevented the victim from leaving despite multiple requests.”
Teen's Phone Allegedly Grabbed and Disabled
A confidential juvenile victim present during the disturbance told Godinez she was going to call 9-1-1, police said. According to the same report, Godinez then forcibly grabbed the juvenile's cellphone out of her hand and disabled it to prevent her from calling law enforcement. Police said Godinez left the scene before officers arrived, leaving the case unresolved for weeks.
License Plate Hit Leads Officers to Suspect
The break in the case came when officers assigned to Fresno's Multi-Agency Gang Enforcement Consortium were patrolling the Southwest Policing District and received an Automated License Plate Reader hit on a vehicle wanted for violent crimes, the station's report states. Officers located the vehicle near Tulare Street and U Street and conducted a traffic stop. During that stop, officers contacted passenger Lucio Godinez and learned he was wanted for domestic violence-related allegations tied to the September incident, per the same account.
Godinez was arrested and booked into Fresno County Jail on suspicion of false imprisonment, dissuading a witness, and robbery, the outlet reported. The allegations and booking charges reflect what police have reported publicly; they are not findings of guilt, and it is not established whether they have resulted in formal charges or a court proceeding.
How Fresno's Camera Network Factored In
Fresno police describe their Automated License Plate Reader cameras as capturing images of vehicles in public places around the city, helping identify vehicles connected to reported crimes, according to GV Wire. The outlet reports Fresno police have had a contract with Flock Safety surveillance cameras since 2023, while KVPR has separately reported that the department began using fixed Flock cameras in 2024 under a city contract. The two accounts do not make clear whether they describe the same contract or different camera milestones.
KVPR reported that as of this past summer, Fresno had 70 such cameras installed at locations designated as high crime, and that Police Chief Mindy Casto said license plate data is retained for 30 days and that camera use is audited, with the current Flock contract set to expire in March 2027. GV Wire also reported that residents have raised privacy concerns about the camera network, including an allegation that an officer used Flock camera footage for something other than an active investigation.
What California Law Says About the Charges
Under California Penal Code section 236, false imprisonment is defined as the unlawful violation of the personal liberty of another, according to California Legislative Information. Robbery, meanwhile, is defined under state law as the felonious taking of another person's property from their person or immediate presence, against their will, by force or fear, per the same legislative source. Those statutory definitions do not by themselves establish whether the specific allegations against Godinez meet the legal standard for either charge.
