YUCCA – A train bandit trio was interrupted while attempting to steal expensive cargo from containers stacked on rail cars last month. While the Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) railroad declined comment on the Aug. 13 incident, details are provided in Justice Court records and a police narrative.
BNSF Special Agent Lance Cencelewski and personnel from the Mohave County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) and Department of Public Safety (DPS) responded to a train burglary in progress at 11:43 p.m. at BNSF milepost 529 in Golden Valley, about 16 miles west of Kingman.
Cencelewski’s incident report said five vehicles were discovered at the burglary scene, two of them containing bolt cutters and sawzalls. A DPS helicopter spotted three subjects getting into a vehicle which was followed and stopped at the Flying J truckstop in Yucca where the suspects were taken into custody.
There was no indication in the report of whether other suspects were involved.
Cencelewski’s report said the master of eastbound train Q-LACLPC6-13L advised 6 to 8 angle cocks had been turned on the train assembly and a number of 40-foot containers stacked on 53-ft. rail cars had been disturbed.
“We observed an upper container with both doors open. It appeared a fourth of the load of boxes were missing,” the report said. “We located three more lower containers that had the right container doors open.”
Off loaded and piled in three locations were 584 cases of various types of Nike tennis shoes, along with 65 loose pairs. Cencelewski said all of the merchandise valued at $347,170 was recovered.
Vehicles involved in the burglary that were towed back to Kingman are described as three Chevy Tahoes, a Dodge pickup and a Chevy box truck.
The arrested suspects are identified as Manuel Rodrigues, 25, Lancaster, California, as well as Jesus Soto-Beltran and Antonio Jimenez, both 26 from Mesa. They are charged with burglary, possession of burglary tools and criminal trespass.
Dave Hawkins
