South Sutter crawdads showdown ends in arrest

A Sacramento man was arrested after firing shots during a dispute involving crawdads in a south Sutter County rice field, according to Sheriff's Department report.

The incident in the 4000 block of Subaco Road was reported at 12:51 p.m. Wednesday.

The suspect, 51-year-old Toan Phu Nguyen, was arrested on suspicion of robbery, kidnapping and assault with a deadly weapon and was being held without bail Thursday in Sutter County Jail.

The victims, a husband and wife whose names were not released, had a fishing license to gather crawdads in the field and were doing so when Nguyen approached. Nguyen pulled a handgun when told to leave and forced the victims to load crawdads into his vehicle, the report said.

When the husband left in his pickup to call law enforcement, Nguyen fired the handgun. It was not clear if the shots were fired toward the wife or in the air, said Sheriff's Department spokeswoman Brenda Baker.

Nguyen then produced a shotgun, pointed it at the wife's back and forced her to walk "to a different location," Baker said.

When deputies arrived and surrounded the field, the wife and two of the couple's employees were loading crawdads into Nguyen's vehicle. He was arrested at 3:28 p.m.

Baker said it was not clear why Nguyen wanted the crawdads. He is not the owner of the property, and the couple's license to gather the crawdads was posted, she said.

The couple had a previous confrontation with Nguyen, Baker said.

CONTACT Rob Young at 749-4710 or at ryoung@appealdemocrat.com